Volume 76, no. 8 August 2020
It is certain that the COVID-19 pandemic will end, just as all previous, mostly worse pandemics did (https://tinyurl.com/r4xhshy). A disease from which more than 99.5% recover cannot wipe out the human species. The SARS-CoV-2 virus may vanish, like SARS-CoV-1. Or there may be recurrent waves, as with the 1918 influenza, or Ebola, or smallpox. Or it may become endemic like the coronaviruses that cause the common cold.
Robert Redfield, new chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), states that we could get COVID under control in 4 or 6 or 8 weeks “if everyone in the U.S. wore a mask.” In a JAMA editorial (tinyurl.com/y4t5ddwg), he cites a study of masking all healthcare workers and patients in a Massachusetts health system. Fig. 2 shows a waxing, leveling off, and waning of positive tests in workers (tinyurl.com/y4zh6xnc). Is this because of the masking, or is it a classic illustration of the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy? And does it apply to the improper use of cloth masks in the general population? The totality of evidence is very weak (aapsonline.org/mask-facts; tinyurl.com/y4pn9aqf).
Bill Gates has said life cannot go back to normal until there is an effective treatment or vaccine. It appears that the pandemic will officially end when CDC and others controlling the information flow say it has. Without a pandemic, the lockdowns, masks, distancing, remdesivir, or a vaccine cannot take credit for saving us.
We need to need that vaccine. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced that the U.S. has signed a contract with Pfizer for December delivery of the first 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, now being developed. The U.S. could later buy another 500 million doses (https://tinyurl.com/yy74v22y).
The End of Normality?
While the media breathlessly counts the number of “cases” of COVID, we do not see a cumulative dashboard of historical monuments defaced or demolished, businesses looted, buildings destroyed by arson, churches desecrated, citizens and law enforcement officers assaulted, innocents killed in escalating crime waves, suicides or drug overdoses attributable to loss of livelihood, social disruptions, or fear. Is there a projected peak or endpoint?
It is normal to expect that calling 9-1-1 will bring help. In Tucson, the service was unavailable for 2 hours for “deep cleaning” when a few employees tested COVID-positive. Worse, emergency services or law enforcement may be unavailable because of quarantines, defunding, officers quitting, or crime-fighting teams being disbanded for political reasons.
It is normal to be able to visit a doctor’s office, and to visit or stay with loved ones in the hospital—to watch out for problems, to speak with the doctor when he makes rounds, to encourage, to comfort, to communicate the patient’s wishes. It is not normal to be at the mercy of whatever the corporate protocol happens to be.
It is normal for physicians to read the literature for themselves, to share ideas with colleagues, and to advocate for patients instead of bowing to the CDC and “guidelines” writers.
Will the radical “new normal” cancel these expectations along with our Constitutional rights?
Will America End?
While people are shut in and normal business, political, religious, and social activities are curtailed, huge crowds congregate “spontaneously” and simultaneously to “peacefully protest.” At this time, riots have occurred for more than 60 straight days in Antifa headquarters, Portland, Ore. (https://tinyurl.com/yybtcup4). Federal officers defending the federal courthouse have been blinded by lasers. Other weapons include bricks, explosives, and fire. A free manual is available for “practicing insurrectionary medicine” (https://riotmedicine.net/).
There are thousands of human shields chanting slogans about racism and justice, but a well-organized, well-funded, Marxist violent insurrection is in progress.
Is the dividing line in America really between blacks and whites, employers and employees, rich and poor, Republicans and Democrats? Or is the divisiveness instigated as part of a divide-and-conquer strategy? Is it the Marxist global elite—the Cancel America (and Western Civilization) movement vs. the resistance?
The elite and its supporters are largely insulated from the COVID chaos. Their government paycheck is secure, as long as they do not deviate from the accepted narrative. Their dependents—an increasingly large share of the population, counting Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries—are not motivated or able to resist. The Stockholm Syndrome prevails. The target is the remnant that has the will to fight and some ability to do so. This would include small business and independent professionals.
The resistance to Marxism—businesses, independent practices, churches, families, private schools—is being destroyed by lockdowns and impossible regulations such as distancing. Chambers of commerce and professional organizations have betrayed independents and aligned themselves with the managerial and academic elite. Religious organizations have been infiltrated by Marxists.
Will the resistance be able to organize and take decisive action to remove and uproot the Marxist influences and displace the collaborating politicians of both political parties? Or will it surrender to its enemies like small business did in Venezuela?
Physicians need to lead, in fighting the virus, the fear, the blindness to the agenda, and the corrupting Marxist philosophy.
Non-consented Worldwide Experiment
“LancetGate” began on May 22 with the publication of the fraudulent study by Mehra et al. (AAPS News, June 2020), which claimed that hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was ineffective and likely harmful in the treatment of COVID-19, and ended with the retraction of the study on June 4. The widely promoted study had immediate effect on HCQ prescribing. In 53 of 99 countries, there was a visible effect on daily deaths and/or the newly resolved case fatality rate (nrCFR), with the impact of the retraction centered 18 days later. In 28 countries, the effect was statistically significant (tinyurl.com/y3rqp9ac). This is what would be expected if a country switches from an effective treatment to a less effective one and back again. A detailed analysis of data for Switzerland showed that during the weeks preceding the ban, the nrCFR index fluctuated between 3% and 5%. Some 13 days after the start of the prohibition, the nrCFR index increased to 10–15% for 2 weeks. Some 12 days after the end of the prohibition, the lethality fell back to a lower level (p<.0001) (tinyurl.com/y9x43kgs).
Frontline Doctors Summit
The Frontline Doctors’ press conference on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, headed by emergency physician Simone Gold, M.D., J.D., garnered 17 million views on YouTube before internet censors took it down. It is preserved at Bitchute (http://tinyurl.com/y2uae5kv). Stella Immanuel, M.D., born in Cameroon and practicing in Houston, told of her successful use of HCQ in hundreds of COVID-19 patients. The summit also featured 10 scientific presentations. Speakers included Richard Urso, M.D.; James Todaro, M.D.; Jeffrey Barke, M.D.; Dan Erickson, M.D.; and Rep. Scott Jensen, M.D. (https://tinyurl.com/yybld9ur). Dr. Todaro’s discovery and exposé of the fraudulent data from Surgisphere led to LancetGate.
The organization’s website was removed by SquareSpace and had to be rebuilt. Dr. Gold was fired from her job as an emergency physician, after 20 years of exceptional service. Others have been the subject of journalistic hit pieces. Despite the efforts of social media giants, their message will not be suppressed as it is being constantly reposted and shared.
In-Person Annual Meeting Cancelled
Because of constraints imposed by the State of Texas, it will be impossible to meet in person in San Antonio as scheduled. The only time an annual meeting has been cancelled in the history of AAPS was in 1945. This year’s business meeting to elect officers, consider resolutions, hear reports, and conduct other business, along with an abbreviated CME program, will be held virtually on Oct 3. Watch aapsonline.org for updates. We will continue our Webinar CME programs and look forward to regional meetings.
The deadline for submitting resolutions has been extended to Sep 1. Send to [email protected].
“Now primarily a marketing machine to sell drugs of dubious benefit, this industry uses its wealth and power to co-opt every institution that might stand in its way, including the U.S. Congress, the Food and Drug Administration, academic medical centers, and the medical profession itself.
Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of the NEJM
ACTION OF THE MONTH
Stand With Silenced Physicians: sign petition to be sent to Commissioner Pai, Cabinet secretaries, the White House, and Congress: https://mailchi.mp/aapsonline/no-to-censorship.
Resolution
The following Resolution will be considered by and is also proposed as a model for state medical associations:
Pandemic Response under the Emergency Powers Act
Whereas: Under state emergency powers acts, state government has virtually unlimited power with no liability for harms its actions may cause; and
Whereas: In the COVID-19 pandemic, governors have invoked sweeping powers, causing severe damage to individuals and small businesses; and
Whereas: Governors have blocked patients from accessing needed medical care, causing harm to patients including preventable death, by administrative decisions defining “essential,” which threaten the livelihood of physicians who dare to help patients by means that might be deemed “nonessential”; Whereas: Governors and state agencies have interfered with physicians’ right to prescribe certain FDA-approved drugs for “off-label” indications, substituting the judgment of unnamed, non-accountable authorities for physicians’ discretion; and
Whereas: Emergency declarations suspend Constitutional rights, including the right to assemble; and
Whereas: AAPS supports evidence-based medicine and policy, not authority-based medicine and policy;
Be It Therefore Resolved That: AAPS supports legislation to
(1) limit the duration of emergency declarations to 10 calendar days, and the authority to continually extend them, without the approval of the legislature;
(2) forbid state and local authorities from restricting access to medical care including “off-label” use of FDA-approved drugs;
(3) require consideration of both public and private costs and benefits of all rules;
(4) require open debate and public disclosure of the rationale and evidence for emergency rules; the disclosure of any conflicts of interest, including but not limited to grants, patents, consulting fees, campaign contributions of any governmental or nongovernmental entities providing the evidence;
(5) require prompt access to an unbiased tribunal to contest fines, deprivations of liberty, or loss of licensure;
(6) require legislative approval of penalties;
(7) require that any deprivations of liberty are the least restrictive possible, imposed only for clear and present dangers, subject to timely review, and not such as to subject persons to danger of contagion or other harms or to deprivation of nourishment, medical attention, outside communication, or other needs; and
(8) forbid involuntary medical interventions, including but not limited to drugs, vaccines, and implantation of devices.
AAPS Calendar
Oct 3. 77th Annual Meeting, virtual
Sep 29-Oct 2. 78th Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA
Texas Medical Board on HCQ
In a Jul 31 press release, the Texas Medical Board writes:
The Texas Medical Board is aware of sometimes conflicting information being published regarding COVID-19. In the past week there was a widely published claim of a “cure” for COVID-19. As we are all aware the medical community is still learning, researching and gaining understanding of the virus. While there are drugs and therapies being used to treat COVID-19, there is no definitive cure at this time.
Both patients and physicians have a right to decide what treatment may be used for COVID-19. The Board does not issue endorsements of the use of any specific drugs or treatments for COVID-19, but any treatment decision must be made with full, proper and accurate disclosure by a physician.
Physicians should refer to laws and Board rules, including those for complementary and alternative medicine, when considering potential treatments and medical decisions regarding COVID-19. A physician must provide full disclosure of treatment options, side effects, obtain informed consent, and there cannot be false, misleading or deceptive advertising or statements made regarding any therapies, including a cure for COVID-19.
If the Board were to receive a complaint, it would be reviewed following the Board’s standard enforcement process, and may include a standard of care review by outside third-party physician experts if the matter involves the treatment of a patient. The Board may also investigate complaints for false, misleading or deceptive advertising, which could include for assuring a permanent cure for an incurable disease.
TMB will continue to provide any updates [www.tmb.state.tx.us/page/coronavirus]. For the latest COVID-19 information for health providers and the public, visit…dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/.
Some might see this as a veiled threat and an invitation to submit complaints. AAPS president-elect Paul Kempen, M.D., asks: “Might this also REQUIRE all doctors to present HCQ to ALL patients presenting with COVID concerns?”
The FDA and HCQ
When asked point-blank on the Today show, “Should people be taking hydroxychloroquine?”, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said: “It’s a decision between a doctor and a patient.” He also stated that “the FDA does not regulate the practice of medicine” and that the drug “has been approved for a number of years for other situations, and we know the drug is safe in those settings” (tinyurl.com/y6chnyto).
Contact Tracing in Ohio
If you have a COVID-19 test, you must sign a form giving permission to send the test result to your state Dept. of Health. All positive test results are assigned to a paid government “contact tracer,” who will phone you. Your phone should display “COVID TEAM” on the caller ID, and if you choose to ignore the call, a contact tracer may appear at your door. You will be ordered to stay at home for 14 days, and take multiple coronavirus tests until you are symptom-free and have a negative coronavirus test. The contact tracer will also ask you to reveal the names and contact information of anyone with whom you’ve recently had close contact (who was within 6 feet of you for at least 15 minutes). All contacts will have to stay home for 14 days. You will be told to send photos of the rooms inside your home to assure you have the government’s designated number of bathrooms, bedrooms, etc. If not, you’ll be advised to move to a hotel to isolate yourself. Your children will be removed by child protective services if you have no spouse or family to care for them. Even your dog is not permitted to have contact with you. You and your contacts could potentially endure multiple episodes of such quarantines and house arrest, writes Kristine Severyn, Ph.D., R.Ph. (https://tinyurl.com/y4462yuy).
Tip of the Month: The Herman Cain tragedy may be a consequence of the “hospitalize, then treat” approach of socialized medicine. After hospitalization, medication can be rationed and even withheld. With COVID-19, it may be too late to help the patient if treatment is delayed. Although he publicly praised hydroxychloroquine, it is not clear whether Cain was able to receive it. With freedom in medicine, and a right to try, the public could obtain early treatment in order to stay out of hospitals, where patients are treated by hospital protocol and few independent physicians are allowed. Herman Cain, long targeted by the Left because he was a successful black conservative, may have died unnecessarily on July 30, a martyr to interference with freedom in medicine amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The End Goals
With widespread, unchecked lawlessness, we are seeing our nation’s vulnerability. We got a taste of it “when we indulged in a strange cult-like exercise of society-wide self-asphyxiation over a novel respiratory bug. Now we seem bent on trying self-immolation instead,” writes Roger Kimball. Racism is the pretext; hatred of America and ultimately of the civilized order itself is the cause, he states (https://tinyurl.com/y2ph9ogj).
Black Lives Matter was co-founded by Patrisse Cullors, who said in a 2015 video that she and her fellow organizers are “trained Marxists.” She was the protégé of Eric Mann of the Weather Underground. BLM’s foundational goals are like those of Communist China and the Soviet Union (tinyurl.com/y2qxajnx).
George Soros has given more than $33 million to BLM. He contributes heavily to some 200 organizations that attack opponents of his global Marxist agenda (tinyurl.com/y38pelmj).
We’re at an inflection point in the march toward socialism, writes Michael Walsh (https://tinyurl.com/y3284pfn). Open defiance of law has occurred for decades. The death of George Floyd is not the grievance. America is the grievance.
Globalist elites gathered in Davos to plan the post-COVID “Great Reset.” On Dec 30, 2019, Financial Times published a YouTube presentation entitled “Why capitalism needs to be reset in 2020.” Redistribution of wealth, LGBT+ inclusion, rules superseding national sovereignty, and “green” standards proposed by China for the COVID-recovery fiscal stimulus are on the transformative Marxist agenda (https://tinyurl.com/y5gmns5d).
Correspondence
COVID and Medicare Fraud. A video by a nurse working undercover at Elmhurst Hospital in New York City (https://tinyurl.com/ya549vt8) reveals evidence of widespread fraud, such as labeling patients as COVID-confirmed when their tests were negative, or even intubating them unnecessarily to reap enhanced revenue. Dentists were running ventilators. Young patients were treated as “no codes” without family knowledge or consent or even without written orders. Shocking care!
Lawrence R. Huntoon, M.D., Ph.D., Lake View, NY
Physicians Must Reclaim Their Autonomy. We must not permit the Oath of Hippocrates to become a “quaint anachronism” superseded by the currently prevailing Corporate Medical Ethic that naive young physicians are prey to out of training. The Medical Society of the State of New York used to give courses in how to start one’s own medical practice. Now our once proud and independent profession has been reduced to “factory workers” on a healthcare assembly line while CEOs of vertically integrated systems are paid millions and CEOs of health “insurance” companies billions. William McGuire, CEO of United Healthcare brought in $1 billion per annum, from the work of physicians and other practitioners and patients’ premiums, while corporate “bean counters” interfere with patients’ evaluation and treatments in order to maximize profits. One could say that physicians are not to blame because they have all been herded by government and corporations into these subservient positions. But no one has forced physicians to sign one-sided contracts that surrender their most precious possession: autonomy of thought and action. I often think of Woody Guthrie’s song Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw: “Some men will rob you with a six-gun…and some with a fountain pen.” We must resist. Lead by example.
Kenneth Liegner, M.D., Pawling, N.Y.
We Must Overcome Fear. Patients and doctors are being attacked with fear in an attempt to get more control over them. It’s the principle of our health-care system, which is guilty of spreading fear in order to earn money. For example, I have to follow the European guideline for heart diseases, drafted by 25 authors, 19 of whom are funded by the pharmaceutical industry. If I don’t, I will be held responsible for any bad outcome for the patient.
Since the beginning of this corona virus, we have been kept in a kind of shock state with frightening messages. Our governments say there is a new virus so terribly dangerous that millions will die if we don’t protect you! “We know best because we have the experts. You are too stupid to make a decision for yourself. We have to isolate you, take away your rights, and silence you by putting on a muzzle. But we really do this for your protection.” We are in a crisis. Victory over fear is the way out.
Katrin Korb, M.D., Oldenburg, Germany, tinyurl.com/y4jfdpco
Moving the Goal Posts. For months, the mainstream media kept a morbid COVID-19 “death count” on their front pages. The narrative was intended to boost governors who turned their states authoritarian under the false notion that destroying people’s jobs, freedom, and lives would somehow keep a virus from doing what viruses always do: spread through a population until eventually losing strength and dying out. The, suddenly in early June the media did a George Orwell and lectured us that it is all about “cases” and has always been all about “cases.” Why? Because from the peak in April, deaths had decreased by 90%.
The “spike” in Texas cases is due to hospital practices of COVID-testing every patient coming in for any procedure at all. If it’s a positive, well that counts as a “COVID hospitalization.” Billions of federal dollars are being funneled to facilities based on the number of “COVID cases” they can produce. As I’ve always said, if you subsidize something you get more of it
We must resist propaganda and defend our liberty.
Ron Paul, M.D., https://tinyurl.com/y4cjedku
The “New Normal.” Social conditioning is defined as the process of training individuals to respond in a manner generally approved by society and various peer groups and their interests. In a textbook method of social conditioning, all commercials and mainstream news reports now contain the line “the new normal.” If the idea and concept reflected in a new euphemistic phrase is introduced and repeated ad nauseam, people will accept it eventually. The “new normal” is fear—fear of government, of one’s neighbors, of quarantine, of getting sick, of being outside without a mask on, or of existing outside of one’s home.
Ileana Johnson, Ed.D., https://tinyurl.com/yy24sh3p
Who Gets Your Medical Records? The North Carolina Health Information Exchanges created and funded by Republicans exchange 3.3 billion messages annually with “providers”—including social service agencies, prisons, first responders, and schools. The question for both parties is only how much more government intervention we should have in medical care.
Joseph Guarino, M.D, Reidsville, NC
Consequence of Testing. Be prepared for all your contacts to be placed under house arrest even if they don’t have COVID-19.
Twila Brase, R.N., P.H.N., https://tinyurl.com/yyquh3fk
