As the Virus Rages, Some Are Convinced It's Too Late to Stop It

New York Times via Yahoo News ^ | November 2, 2020 | Mike Baker

[John W]

COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho — The congregation of Candlelight Christian Fellowship gathered around tables sipping coffee and grapple with theological questions.

With a potluck dinner, no masks and plenty of shared hugs, the night felt like a throwback to the pre-pandemic era except for a noticeable exception on the stage: The lead pastor, Paul Van Noy, was addressing the congregation with the aid of supplemental oxygen, piped into his nostrils from a small tank.

About a month ago, Van Noy, 60, was discharged from a hospital in a wheelchair after a COVID-19 infection brought him to the brink of death. But while that scare ravaged his lungs and rattled the church, it has done little to alter the growing sentiment among many people in northern Idaho that the coronavirus cannot be stopped and efforts to contain it are doing more harm than good.

“I think we just open up and we just let it take its course,” said Nancy Hillberg, 68, as church members mingled after the service. “Just let it be done.”

Amid a record spike of coronavirus cases and the final days of the presidential election, President Donald Trump and his administration have expressed increasing helplessness at containing the virus, focusing instead on improvements in survivability and trying to hold the economy together. While it is a theme welcomed by many of the president’s supporters, it has proved alarming to health officials who are encountering rising resistance to their calls for unity in combating a pandemic that has already claimed nearly 230,000 Americans and threatens to take many more.

Governors around the country, particularly Republican ones, are following the president’s lead in resisting new restrictions against a virus that has powerfully persisted despite lockdowns in some areas over the spring and summer.

[Texan5]

“And I’ll never take this vaccine, just as I’ve never had a flu shot.”

Same for me-last flu shot I got was in the 90’s-it was required for work as a workers comp case manager/adjuster-it made me sick for a whole week, just like flu shots had since I was 8 years old-I demanded that my employer pay me double time for the 5 days I was out-he did-and I have never gotten a flu shot again-as a naturalist, I believe in maintaining a strong immune system, use natural remedies, stay skinny, work outdoors, never eat processed food, etc-my very few brushes with the flu-and the Wuhan virus last March-were mild and knocked out with homeopathic remedies-I’m over 65 and run a business...

[FormerFRLurker]

Pity those who mask and cower out of fear; condemn those who promote fear as a virtue (Dennis Prager paraphrase)

So do you condemn those who wear seat belts when driving? There's quite a difference between "promoting fear as a virtue" and taking reasonable precautions to protect yourself and your family. The Left says we "live in fear" every time there's a run on ammo. I refuse to apologize to anyone of any political stripe for defending myself and my family.

[ozaukeemom]

OK, in your post you stated it was a plus. That is why I asked.

[FormerFRLurker]

America is in the process of self inoculation, self immunization.

Except that less than 3% of the American population has had the virus. Herd immunity occurs after 90% of the population has been infected. Our ERs will be overwhelmed before we get to herd immunity...unless we achieve it through vaccination.

A few will die during the self immunization.

You spell "236,814" differently than I do.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

[mn-bush-man]

Boy, talk about reading a lot into something that isn’t there. Never did I even hint at dismissing older folks as “about to die anyway”. Statistically they’re far more vulnerable, fragile, and susceptible to many things (falling, the flu, other accidents, heart disease, cancer... long list!). Covid is especially hard on that population group because of their fragility. That has nothing to do with dismissing their value or significance. You won’t find a more pro-life person than me.

And I’m wildly curious where you get any sort of data that would support the notion that an 80 year old male “on average” lives for 7 more years. Life expectancy for all males is 70.8.

[steve86]

“the notion that an 80 year old male “on average” lives for 7 more years”

Sounds about right to me. And a great number of the obits around here are people in their 90s these days.

[ETCM]

And I’m wildly curious where you get any sort of data that would support the notion that an 80 year old male “on average” lives for 7 more years. Life expectancy for all males is 70.8.

If you were wildly curious, you would have found the answer already. Actuarial Life Tables use actual death statistics to find average lifespan. Here's an example:

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

[lightman]

COVID-19 is airborne.

That means, “in the air, everywhere”.

It is ENDEMIC.

We will ALL get exposed..over and over.
MANY of us will “test positive”, mostly without symptoms.
SOME of us will be “symptomatic”, and a subset will be really sick.
And (unfortunately) a FEW of us will die.

This is NOT the Bubonic plague.
This is NOT the Spanish Influenza.

Tear off that face diaper.
Breathe deeply. Inhale some COVID.
Build up your immune system.
And LIVE!

[dandiegirl]

Rand Paul just telling Cavuto that masks and lockdowns obviously don’t work as people have been doing everything they are told and still having many cases. Especially England. Said politicians can’t stop a virus.

[Antoninus]

It was too late to stop it in March. All the efforts to do so were merely kicking the can down the road.

[glennaro]

My frustration is because other than "virtue signaling" it's clear (as I've known all along for the past eight months from my five decades of experience with PPE -- what it can do and, as importantly, what its limitations are), that the way nearly everyone selects, applies/fit tests, wears and maintains their mask does nothing -- absolutely nothing -- to stop transmission of a virus. You don't even need to accept my opinion as proof ... the proof is in the data, in the results of widespread masking. Even where masking is ubiquitous, the virus continues to spread (surprise! surprise!) as if no one is wearing them at all ... like me!

If you want to wear a mask because it makes you feel "safe" or because it makes you feel good about yourself, then by all means do so. That the mask gives frightened people the courage to leave their homes and be around others is its only redeeming quality in that they participate, albeit unwittingly, in spreading the virus and building widespread immunity ... just as always happens with every respiratory virus when our society doesn't go bat-sh!t crazy like we did with this one!

FormerFRLurker, my intent is not to hammer you with my admitted diatribe, it's just that I'm so G-D tired of the lies being spread by politicians and, particularly The Experts who know what they're saying isn't true ... it just isn't true

Other than helping to spread the virus, forcing healthy people to wear a mask is a terrible way to rebuild our economy, restore our society and get back to living without that enormous albatross of fear clinging to our backs ... and the backs of our children for heaven's sake! Just imagine what a wonderful day it will be when that fear dissipates and you live free again!

[Ragnar54]

Fast acting vitamin D is can "stop it".

In a new study, 76 patients with Covid-19 were treated: 26 with "standard of care" and 50 with "standard of care" + a high dose Vitamin D analog (calcifediol ).

For the group receiving calcifediol, only 1 (of 50) had to go to the ICU, and none died.
For the group not receiving calcifediol, 13 (of 26) went to the ICU and 2 died.

Given the proven effectiveness of Vitamin D against respiratory infections in the past, one physician was appalled that the CDC had not already done a similar study. We can expect the bureaucrats to ignore this study. The reason is now clear: their Chinese masters want the fear porn to continue so as to lift Jo and the Ho into power.

The study:

“Effect of calcifediol treatment and best available therapy versus best available therapy on intensive care unit admission and mortality among patients hospitalized for COVID-19: A pilot randomized clinical study”

Here is an analysis of the study:
Vitamin D, First clinical trial

Here is another analysis of the same study:
New Study - Vitamin D High Dose and COVID-19

Calcifediol raises blood levels of Vitamin D quickly. This is because it is the same as what the liver produces from regular vitamin D. Processing by the liver introduces days of delay, which might have been fatal for some of the Chinese Virus patients in this study. It is probably a good idea to get a prescription for Calcifediol and have some handy in case you develop Chinese Virus symptoms.

The only real side effect of using Vitamin D is that it is incredibly cheap compared to the drugs in the patent royalty competition. The retail cost of the amount of calcifediol used in the study is probably less than $2000 per patient (assuming a 2-3 week course). If people became aware of the effectiveness of Vitamin D against the Chinese Virus, they might start taking preventive doses of "ordinary" (slow acting cholecalciferol) Vitamin D, and that would be disastrous to the Covid fear porn royalty derby. A good preventive dose is 10,000 IU per day, requiring 13 bottles of 60 5,000 IU softgels per person per year at less than $100 ($7.50 per bottle from lef.org, cheaper elsewhere).
Fauci said in an email (as reported on a website, and not refuted) that he takes 6,000. I would guess that he weighs no more that 140. I am a more "normal" 200 and I take 8,000. I will have to increase to 10,000. The amount required to reach a certain blood level depends on your volume as well as your percent body fat, since Vitamin D is fat-soluble (my personal opinion of Dr. Fauci is that he is a bit scrawny)

The important questions are what is your vitamin D blood level and what is your calcium blood level. My Vitamin D level is only 40, and my calcium level is normal.

There is an article on NIH by a Canadian physician (Dr. Gerry Schwalfenberg) who works in nursing homes. He has developed a protocol for reducing flu like illness among his patients. This should be tried against the corona virus in US hospitals:

"A colleague of mine and I have introduced vitamin D at doses that have achieved greater than 100 nmol/L in most of our patients for the past number of years, and we now see very few patients in our clinics with the flu or influenzalike illness. In those patients who do have influenza, we have treated them with the vitamin D hammer, as coined by my colleague. This is a 1-time 50 000 IU dose of vitamin D3 or 10 000 IU 3 times daily for 2 to 3 days. The results are dramatic, with complete resolution of symptoms in 48 to 72 hours. One-time doses of vitamin D at this level have been used safely and have never been shown to be toxic. We urgently need a study of this intervention. The cost of vitamin D is about a penny for 1000 IU, so this treatment costs less than a dollar."

Vitamin D for influenza

There is a presentation by Dr. Robert P Heaney on the healthful effects of adequate vitamin D levels:

Vitamin D Sunshine Optimal Health: Putting it all Together

There is an article by Beata M. Gruber-Bzura on NIH that describes the mechanisms by which vitamin D works with the immune system:

"There are a few arguments which support vitamin D as a likely candidate for the abovementioned “seasonal stimulus”. In summary, most important is the 1α,25(OH)2D-stimulated production of AMPs, such as defensin and cathelicidin. As mentioned, these endogenous antibiotics act directly, destroying not only microbial pathogens, but also viruses, including the influenza virus [24,48,49]. The production of cathelicidin is dose-dependent on the serum level of 1α,25(OH)2D. "

Vitamin D and Influenza—Prevention or Therapy?


Please contact your Senators, Congressmen and the President and ask that the CDC be required to duplicate this study for a larger group. Such a study would be inexpensive and would not take long (on the order of weeks, less time than we are being asked to wait for the vaccine). The CDC should also be told to test the Vitamin D level of all Covid-19 patients.