Category Archives: Of Interest
Follow the Money
My conversation with State Senator and doctor who exposes Medicare payouts for COVID-19 patients
As you’ll see by end of this article, the specific decisions about money mentioned here affect life and death outcomes for patients.
A state senator has suddenly come out of nowhere and made big news.
My conversation with Minnesota State Senator, Dr. Scott Jensen, took place after I read the explosive statement he made to FOX News, on April 9th. So let’s start with his earlier FOX statement [1]:
“Right now Medicare has determined that if you have a COVID-19 admission to the hospital you’ll get paid $13,000. If that COVID-19 patient goes on a ventilator, you get $39,000; three times as much. Nobody can tell me, after 35 years in the world of medicine, that sometimes those kinds of things [don’t] [have] impact on what we do…”
I reached out to Senator Jensen, and obtained clarification. Jensen told me his remark pertained to patients with Medicare coverage. And the 2 payouts he mentioned are standard insurance payments from Medicare which would go to the hospital.
Of course, he explained, some hospitals have a pay-share plan with their staff doctors. Therefore, a windfall for the hospital is passed along to those doctors.
Jensen told me: Take a Medicare patient who is diagnosed with simple non-COVID pneumonia. The hospital would receive a one-time Medicare lump-sum payout of $4600.
However, if that Medicare patient is diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia, the Medicare coverage is a one-time $13,000 payment. And if the hospital puts that COVID-19 pneumonia patient on a ventilator, the one-time payment is $39,000. NOTE: It doesn’t matter how long these patients stay in hospital—there is only going to be one lump-sum insurance payment.
So, I infer, there are several types of financial incentives for hospitals—
ONE: Diagnose as many people as possible with COVID-19.
TWO: Diagnose as many people as possible with COVID-19 who have light symptoms—making it easy to move them out of the hospital quickly.
THREE: Put as many COVID patients as possible on ventilators for as short a time as possible.
Under the heading of “diagnose as many patients as possible with COVID-19,” there is also the key question of what constitutes “a COVID-19 patient”—and how the use of that label can be multiplied and manipulated. Senator Jensen made a few choice comments to FOX on this subject as well.
From FOX News: “Dr. Scott Jensen, a Minnesota family physician who is also a Republican state senator, told ‘The Ingraham Angle’ Wednesday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines for doctors to certify whether a patient has died of coronavirus are ‘ridiculous’ and could be misleading the public.”
“Host Laura Ingraham read Jensen the [CDC] guidelines, which say: ‘In cases where a definite diagnosis of COVID cannot be made but is suspected or likely (e.g. the circumstances are compelling with a reasonable degree of certainty) it is acceptable to report COVID-19 on a death certificate as ‘probable’ or ‘presumed.’”
“In response, Jensen told Ingraham the CDC’s death certificate manual tells physicians to focus on ‘precision and specificity,’ but the coronavirus death certification guidance runs completely counter to that axiom.”
“’The idea that we are going to allow people to massage and sort of game the numbers is a real issue because we are going to undermine the [public] trust,’ he said. ‘And right now as we see politicians doing things that aren’t necessarily motivated on fact and science, their trust in politicians is already wearing thin’.”
“…Jensen then told Ingraham that under the CDC guidelines, a patient who died after being hit by a bus and tested positive for coronavirus would be listed as having presumed to have died from the virus regardless of whatever damage was caused by the bus.”
“…Jensen also reacted to Dr. Anthony Fauci’s response to a question about the potential for the number of coronavirus deaths being ‘padded,’ in which the NIAID director described the prevalence of ‘conspiracy theories’ during ‘challenging’ times in public health.”
“’I would remind him that anytime health care intersects with dollars it gets awkward,’ Jensen said.”
Here is where everything Scott Jensen is saying can turn very grim—
As I’ve reported [2], New York ER doctor, Cameron Kyle-Sidell [3], has made public statements about the misuse of ventilators with supposed COVID-19 patients. He’s stated that some of these patients actually have functioning lungs. Their immediate and dire life-threatening situation is straight oxygen deficit, as if they have high-altitude sickness. But pressure on the lungs, applied by the use of ventilators via standard rigid protocols, he says, can cause damage, and even death.
Imagine what would happen if another way—NOT ventilators—was found to usefully and safely deliver oxygen to these patients.
The hospitals wouldn’t get their huge $39,000 payout for each Medicare patient put on a ventilator.
What do you think a hospital would say…what decision would the hospital make…would the hospital allow a better and safer and necessary delivery system for oxygen? For every labeled “COVID-19 patient” whose desperate emergency is a straight deficit of oxygen?
Would the hospital forego all those huge Medicare coverage payouts?
SOURCES:
[1]: Minnesota doctor blasts ‘ridiculous’ CDC coronavirus death count guidelines
[2]: COVID and a 5G connection?
[3]: Dr Cameron Kyle Sidell. E R & Critical Care Dr From NYC
from: https://nomorefakenews.com/
More Covid 19 Facts Not to be Found in the MSM
April 12, 2020
New studies
- Stanford professor of medicine John Ioannidis concludes in a new study that the risk of death from Covid19 for people under 65 years of age, even in global „hotspots“, is equivalent to the risk of a fatal car accident for daily commuters driving between 9 and 400 miles.
- In a serological pilot study, German virologist Hendrick Streeck comes to the interim result that the lethality of Covid19 is at 0.37% and the mortality (based on the total population) at 0.06%. These values are about ten times lower than those of the WHO and about five times lower than those of Johns Hopkins University.
- A Danish study with 1500 blood donors found that the lethality of Covid19 is only 1.6 per thousand, i.e. more than 20 times lower than originally assumed by the WHO and thus in the range of a strong (pandemic) influenza. At the same time Denmark has decided to reopen schools and kindergartens next week.
- A serological study in the US state of Colorado comes to the preliminary conclusion that the lethality of Covid19 has been overestimated by a factor of 5 to a factor of 20 and is likely to be in the range between normal and pandemic influenza.
- A study conducted by the Medical University of Vienna concluded that the age and risk profile of Covid19 deaths is similar to normal mortality.
- A study in the Journal of Medical Virology concludes that the internationally used coronavirus test is unreliable: In addition to the already known problem of false positive results, there is also a „potentially high“ rate of false negative results, i.e. the test does not respond even in symptomatic individuals, while in other patients it does respond once and then again not. This makes it more difficult to exclude other flu-like illnesses.
- A Swiss biophysicist has for the first time evaluated and graphically displayed the rate of positive tests in the US, France, Germany and Switzerland. The result shows that the positive rate in these countries is increasing rather slowly and not exponentially.
- Dr. Daniel Jeanmonod, emeritus Swiss professor of physiology and neurosurgery, recommends in an analysis: „Think deep, do good science, and do not panic!„
- US researchers conclude that local air pollution greatly increases the risk of death from Covid19. This confirms earlier studies from Italy and China.
- The WHO concluded at the end of March that, contrary to earlier assumptions, Covid19 is not transmitted by aerosols („through the air“). Transmission mainly takes place through direct contact or by droplet infection (coughing, sneezing).
- The German-American epidemiology professor Knut Wittkowski argues in a new interview that the Covid19 epidemic is already declining or even „already over“ in many countries. The curfews had come too late and had been counterproductive, Wittkowski argues.
from: https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
UPDATE: Facts About the Coronavirus
A few factors to consider from an update dated April 12, 2020 from the Swiss Propaganda Research Institute:
US
- In the US, the authorities now also recommend that all test-positive deaths and even suspect cases without a positive test result be registered as „Covid deaths“. An American physician and state senator from Minnesota declared that this was tantamount to manipulation. Furthermore, there would be financial incentives for hospitals to declare patients as Covid19 patients. (Some humour on this topic).
- A Covid19 field hospital near Seattle in Washington State was closed after only three days without admitting any patients. This is reminiscent of the hospitals built at short notice near Wuhan, which were also mostly under-utilized or even empty and were then dismantled after a short time.
- Numerous media reported on alleged „corona mass graves“ on Hart Island near New York. These reports are misleading in two respects: firstly, Hart Island has long been one of the best-known „cemeteries of the poor“ in the US, and secondly the mayor of New York declared that no mass graves are planned, but that „unclaimed“ deceased (i.e. without relatives) are to be buried on Hart Island.
Here is the link to the rest of the update, including country-by-country analyses, (please scroll down to the April 12th report): https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
A Little Chaos – Magick
What is chaos magick?
“Nothing is true; everything is permitted.”
– Hassan I Sabbah
“I tell you: one must have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star. I tell you: you still have chaos in you.”
– Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
“…if you want a one-line definition with which most Chaoists would probably not disagree, then I offer the following. Chaoists usually accept the meta-belief that belief is a tool for achieving effects; it is not an end in itself.”
– Peter Carroll, January, 1992
“Chaos is not in itself, a system or philosophy. It is rather an attitude that one applies to one’s magic and philosophy. It is the basis for all magic, as it is the primal creative force. A Chaos Magician learns a variety of magical techniques, usually as many as s/he can gain access to, but sees beyond the systems and dogmas to the physics behind the magical force and uses whatever methods are appealing to him/herself.”
– Mark Chao, “Defining Chaos”
“The Chaos Magician seeks to understand the natural laws behind the workings of magic, and the reasons behind the use of ritual in the performance of a magical working.”
– Jaq D. Hawkins, Understanding Chaos Magic1
“Chaos Magick is an extraordinary deconstruction of magick, semantics, and psychology designed to eradicate consensual belief structures and, using the energy freed by this act, glimpse the fractal contours of reality.”
– Marik
“Chaos Magick is in essence shamanism devoid of culture.”
– The Heretic Heathen, on alt.magick.chaos
“Chaos can be beautiful and good. Order can be dangerous and evil. As any carpenter will tell you, some tools are dangerous. Dangerous tools are safest when properly sharpened, and used by experts. You get to be an expert by practicing your sharpening skills, not by hacking away…”
– alt.magick.chaos FAQ V 1.00
“There’s basically two kinds of magick. There’s puff’s magick, and git ‘ard Magick. Chaos is git ‘ard Magick.”
– Mick McMagus, Leeds, 1987
“Rather than trying to recover and maintain a tradition that links back to the past (and former glories), Chaos Magick is an approach that enables the individual to use anything that s/he thinks is suitable as a temporary belief or symbol system. What matters is the results you get, not the ‘authenticity’ of the system used. So Chaos Magic then, is not a system – it utilises systems and encourages adherents to devise their own, giving magic a truly Postmodernist flavour.”
– Phil Hine, Condensed Chaos2
“Much of what passes for magical theory is, at root, a matter of belief. As such, it is more relevant to the successful outcome of the magician’s spell that he has some degree of belief in what he is doing. Moreover, whereas scientific theories are based (at least so we are told by scientists) on mathematical proofs, magical theories are rooted in personal beliefs of whoever is expounding them. Where as scientific theories at least have the appearance of being unified and consistent, magical theories do not, nor is it a requirement, from the position of practical magic, that they do.
“Henceforth, whilst there are a great many theories and models proposed as to how, or why, magic works (based on subtle energies, animal magnetism, psychological concepts, quantum theory, mathematics or the so-called anthropomorphic principle) it is not a case that one of them is more ‘true’ than others, but a case of which theory or model you choose to believe in, or which theory you find most attractive. Indeed, from a Chaos Magic perspective, you can selectively believe that a particular theory or model of magical action is true only for the duration of a particular ritual or phase of work.”
– Phil Hine, Prime Chaos 3
“Chaos comes before all principles of order & entropy, it’s neither a god nor a maggot, its idiotic desires encompass & define every possible choreography, all meaningless aethers & phlogistons, its masks are crystallizations of its own facenessness, like clouds…Chaos never died.”
– Hakim Bey, “Chaos” in T.A.Z.4
“Chaos Magic is about actualising the will in the real world, rather than attaining ever more colourful dreams in imaginary higher states.”
– Steve Wilson, Chaos Ritual
“Chaos Magick does not use a concrete theoretical focus, the emphasis in Chaos Magick is on the Doing rather than the Explaining…Thus, in Chaos Magick a system of belief is a means to an end and is not an answer to the mystery of Life, the Universe and everything.”
– D. J. Lawrence, The Chaos Cookbook
“…I think the magician is sort of adversarial by nature. Brash and arrogant at the least, to acknowledge that there is a pattern and to also say “I can do better”.”
– Fra. Samuel 23, of ChaosCurrent.com
“…Chaos magick should be all about ‘getting out there and doing it’. Sometimes it is also all about thinking about how to do it, and thus creatively inventing marvellous and sometimes scary new ways of how to do it. And then damn well doing it!”
– Francis Breakspear, Kaostar!5
Image credit: fathomfive
from: https://www.spiralnature.com/magick/what-is-chaos-magick/
Sigils & Effects
Sigil magick: Down and dirty
One of the simplest forms of magick to do is sigil magick. Sigils can be found throughout the magick world, and are often used for quick works; however, they can also be employed for long lasting work and protection. They are very easy to learn, making them approachable, but make no mistake, mastering this skill, like anything else in magick, takes time.
Many people make the mistake of thinking that these are simple magicks because they are relatively easy to learn, and do once you have the system of creation down. Although there are various systems, which this piece will go over, they all, more or less, follow the same rules. Due to this ease, people often thoughtlessly practice this type of work which leads to easy mistakes and unexpected consequences.
When working with sigils, it’s not just how to do it, it’s also why and when. Understanding when sigils are best put to use and what circumstances they help most with will help practitioners grow their practice. Though these are simple to use, they’re not meant to be just thrown around whenever.
A short history and what sigils are and are not
Sigils are glyphs created from letters of the alphabet either by using the letters directly or by changing them over to numbers to build patterns. There are done by hand in many cases, but there are multiple websites and apps to help people create sigils quickly and efficiently. That being said, the creation is only half of the process for working with them. The second half is destruction.
The use of sigils was first noticeably pioneered by Austin Osman Spare. He was an artist and was heavily involved with the occult scene during the early part of the 20th century, along with Aleister Crowley. The two eventually had a falling out, but Spare is responsible for influencing what we know of today as chaos magick. His original work was refined in the later part of the century to be more palatable and easy to work with.
Spare had grand ideas for sigil work, some of which would combine the physical body with the alphabet to make new symbols and form a stronger connection with the work, but this never really caught on. This has left us with the very basics of sigil use, our alphabet and for the most part, paper.
Although Spare in considered the “father” of sigil work, and sigil work is still an important practice in chaos magick, many different types of practitioners use this technique. It crops up in modern hoodoo studies, Wicca, and shamanic paths. It’s relationship with chaos magick is undisputed, but it has been adopted by other schools of magick as well.
Sigils are not the same as veves or charms. They aren’t symbols that are placed on other things for protection or to call back to a deity. They aren’t alchemical, they don’t speak to the elements. They are unique structures created to fulfill a certain intent. They are for one-time use, for the most part.
There are have been a few sites and people who have put out sigils for use against massive issues. Some websites have premade sigils that anyone is free to copy and use. There’s nothing wrong with this, as long as the intent that the user wishes is the same as what the sigil as created for, it’s fine.
Sigils cannot be used for issues outside of what they were created for. If your intent when you created the sigil is to find a new job, you can’t then use the same sigil for finding a new apartment. This is because they are created with specific words and phrases and are simply not interchangeable.
Although they can be general, such as a broad sigil for protection, they work well when they are more specific. The act of outlining your intent is part of the ritual of creating them. This is the one issue with premade sigils, they don’t hold much of your own intent. Now with a good foundation in what these are and aren’t, we’ll move on to how to create them.
Making your own sigil in just a few steps
Before we dive in, it’s important to note that this is easier to do on paper than it is online unless you are using a generator program.
Step 1: Identify and set your intent
This literally means sitting down and laying out what you’re attempting to accomplish with this work. Do you want a new job? A romantic partner? A chance to meet someone famous? To get over a cold? Whatever it is you are trying to do, this is where you identify that exact need.
It is also where you decide if this is really the best work for this desire. There’s a time and a season for everything, and although sigil magick can be used for anything, it’s not the greatest for all situations. This is a really subjective practice and there are no hard and fast rules.
The only advice here is to really think about what you are asking for, and if some other practice would not be better suited for getting the results that you want or need. You can, if you want, use sigils for everything, but this isn’t responsible, and likely won’t give you the results you want.
Things to consider: can my petition be boiled down to one concrete sentence? If not, then sigil work is probably not the best work. Am I open to a variety of outcomes that satisfy my original request? If you are not ok with this, then sigil work may be too broad for your needs. Do I know what I really want? If the answer is no, then sigil work is not a good move for you.
Your intent, or petition as I call them, should be written in a clear decisive sentence. “I want a new job,” is fine but “I want a new job in my field that does not require relocation,” is better. The first sentence can find you having to move across the country, or being flooded with offers that you are not interested in. The second sentence gives the magick parameters to work within. There are still ways we could make this petition better, such as by mentioning things like a pay rate or benefits, but for the purposes of this example, this is fine.
Step 2: Reduce your intent
The first step is to remove all the vowels. This turns “I want a new job in my field that does not require relocation” into “wntnwjbnmfldthtdsntrqrrlctn” which is very unwieldy. A note on the letter “y”, it is removed as vowel when it is acting as a vowel, as in the word “my,” but otherwise would be a consonant.
This is further reduced by removing the repeat letters. Some people don’t do this step, but I think in longer petitions this is needed. “wntnwjbnmfldthtdsntrqrrlctn” becomes “wntjbnfldhsgrlc.” This string of letters is much easier to work with.
Step 3: Draw your sigil
There are a few ways to do this. I will lay them out. The first is perhaps the easiest (and most fun). In the most popular form, you take the letters of the petition and create an image from them. The letters connect and overlap, and the results are often quite attractive and artistic. This process takes more time as they must be laid out intentionally, so that the result seems natural. You don’t just write them on top of one of another.
The second, faster option is to use a grid. This is where we see some overlap between sigils and magick squares. In order to use this method, you must reduce your intent once more into numbers. If you are only transferring their place in the alphabet, you can use a square that has 26 jumbled numbers such as the Square of Mars, or you can reduce them all down to numbers 1-9. The second suggestion is most common, but many people use magick squares as basis for their sigil creation. This goes a bit beyond the basics, so we’re going to leave that concept alone. It is enough to say that, although sigils and magick squares do at times overlap, they are two distinct types of work that exist independently of each other.
It’s very easy to draw with this system. Start at your first letter and just draw lines to the next letters, like connect the dots. The image that is created by the connecting and overlapping lines is your sigil.
Step 4: Charging
How you charge your sigil really depends on what sort of magick your practice. For people who are eclectic, charging is generally a small act of mediation. Some groups let the finish sigil sit on their altar for a few days. Others carry it around so that the energy can be drawn.
Some people skip this completely. Even though I’ve listed this as a step, it’s optional and not everyone does it. I like to have a connection with my work, but not everyone feels like this process makes it any stronger. Whether you do so is up to you. For some the act of creating the sigil is enough.
Step 5: Destruction or activation
Sigils are made to be destroyed. That act of destroying it is what activates it. The most common practice is to burn it. This is part of why paper is recommended, because it burns easily. It can also be ripped very easily, in case you can’t burn it. You can even scribble over it completely, which destroys it.
This is also the part that makes online generators a less favourable option. I recommend using them to speed up the first few steps, but copying the sigil onto paper so that it can be destroyed. If that is not possible, save a picture, a screenshot, and delete it or take it into Paint or similar program, and destroy it by colouring, erasing or cutting chunks of it out.
Step 6: Profit
Well, not really, unless your sigil was about money. As with any work, you must let the universe do its work. It may take time for your sigil to manifest, but give it that time.
This is a basic guide for creating and using sigil magick. You can do many things with it, and it’s best to experiment to find your own style and voice with it.
Image credit: Alexander Synaptic
from: https://www.spiralnature.com/magick/sigil-magick-down-and-dirty/
But Who Is Pulling the Strings?
The Effect of Vaccines —Oops!
Research: Flu Vaccine Increases Your Risk of Infecting Others by 6X
GMI Reporter, Green Med InfoA provocative new study on flu virus transmission found that subjects had 6.3 times more aerosol shedding of flu virus particles if they received vaccination in the current and previous season compared with having no vaccination in those two seasons.
Vaccination is predicated on the rarely questioned belief that it confers bona fide immunity against targeted pathogens. This is why the terms vaccination and immunization are often used interchangeably, a disingenious semantic confusion that is rarely confronted or corrected. In the case of flu vaccine, certainty about this approximates religious faith, with the CDC taking on the role of the Church, conventional doctors the clergy, and the published literature Holy Scripture.

But what if the literature fails to support the orthodoxy? There are in, in fact, hundreds of examples of this. We have gathered a modest 500 studies which show the untintended, adverse effects of many vaccines outweigh their purported benefits, all of which you can view on our open access database on the topic here: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/anti-therapeutic-action/vaccination-all
The latest addition to this growing body of literature is found in a newly published article titled, “Infectious Virus Exhaled In Breath Of Symptomatic Seasonal Flu Cases,” published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Science).
The study found that flu carriers exhale significant quantities of infectious influenza virus, and that counterintuitively, sneezing is rare and not important for influenza virus aerosolization; nor is coughing required to transmit these particles. Simply breathing will do. Additionally, the study found that males shed influenza viruses in greater quantity than females through fine aerosols, and women cough more frequently. But what is most salient about the study was the following finding:
“6.3 (95% CI 1.9–21.5) times more aerosol shedding among cases with vaccination in the current and previous season compared with having no vaccination in those two seasons.”
For more details on the study design read the following:
“We screened 355 symptomatic volunteers with acute respiratory illness and report 142 cases with confirmed influenza infection who provided 218 paired nasopharyngeal (NP) and 30-minute breath samples (coarse >5-µm and fine ≤5-µm fractions) on days 1–3 after symptom onset. We assessed viral RNA copy number for all samples and cultured NP swabs and fine aerosols.
We recovered infectious virus from 52 (39%) of the fine aerosols and 150 (89%) of the NP swabs with valid cultures. The geometric mean RNA copy numbers were 3.8 × 104/30-minutes fine-, 1.2 × 104/30-minutes coarse-aerosol sample, and 8.2 × 108 per NP swab. Fine- and coarse-aerosol viral RNA were positively associated with body mass index and number of coughs and negatively associated with increasing days since symptom onset in adjusted models.
Fine-aerosol viral RNA was also positively associated with having influenza vaccination for both the current and prior season. NP swab viral RNA was positively associated with upper respiratory symptoms and negatively associated with age but was not significantly associated with fine- or coarse-aerosol viral RNA or their predictors. Sneezing was rare, and sneezing and coughing were not necessary for infectious aerosol generation. Our observations suggest that influenza infection in the upper and lower airways are compartmentalized and independent.”
Clearly, if this finding is accurate and reproducible, flu vaccination may actually make you more likely to infect others. Or worse, it may also make you more likely to contract influenza in the first place. For instance, a 2010 Canadian study which looked at 4 observational studies found that 2008-2009 H1N1 vaccination was associated with a 1.4 to 2.5 fold increased risk of medically attended H1N1 illness during the spring-summer 2009.
And this is only the tip of the iceberg. We have been reporting on the conspicuous lack of evidence for flu vaccine effectiveness (and safety) for over a decade, based largely on the underreported failure of the Cochrane Database Review to show them effective (and safe), despite hundreds of industry-funded studies that have attempted to do so. Learn more: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/shocking-lack-evidence-supporting-flu-vacc…
Also, there are well-documented iatrogenic effects of common vaccines like MMR and Rotavirus Vaccines, which include viral shedding and infection following vaccination. In other words, there is a significant body of evidence that the vaccinated actually infect the un- vaccinated. Here are a few of our previous reports on this phenomena:
- How Vaccinated Kids Infect The Non-Vaccinated
- The Vaccinated Spreading Measles: WHO, Merck, CDC Documents Confirm
- The Vaccine Did It: Mutated MMR Mumps Virus in the Brain of a Child Caused His Death, British Researchers Confirm
- Millions of Children Infected with ‘Vaccine Safety Experts’ Rotateq Vaccine: Dr. Paul Offit
- Rotavirus Vaccines Still Contaminated With Pig Virus
- Polio Vaccines Now The #1 Cause of Polio Paralysis
Clearly, this undermines the ongoing campaign to identify non-vaccinating or anti-vaccine individuals and groups as a threat, or danger to others. Ironically, the very group being blamed for infecting others — including by Bill Gates who declared non-vaccinators ‘kill children‘ — may become victims of being infected by vaccine-specific strains of viruses which are far worse than the natural/wild-type versions our species’ immunity has evolved with over countless millenia.
Some Issues to Consider — Facts before Fear
Facts about Covid-19
Published: March 14, 2020; Updated: April 7, 2020
Languages: CZ, DE, EN, FR, ES, HE, HU, IT, NL, NO, PL, RU, SE, SI, SK, TR
Fully referenced facts about Covid-19, provided by experts in the field, to help our readers make a realistic risk assessment. (Updated daily, see below)
„The only means to fight the plague is honesty.“ Albert Camus, The Plague (1947)
According to the latest data of the Italian National Health Institute ISS, the average age of the positively-tested deceased in Italy is currently about 81 years. 10% of the deceased are over 90 years old. 90% of the deceased are over 70 years old.
80% of the deceased had suffered from two or more chronic diseases. 50% of the deceased had suffered from three or more chronic diseases. The chronic diseases include in particular cardiovascular problems, diabetes, respiratory problems and cancer.
Less than 1% of the deceased were healthy persons, i.e. persons without pre-existing chronic diseases. Only about 30% of the deceased are women.
The Italian Institute of Health moreover distinguishes between those who died from the coronavirus and those who died with the coronavirus. In many cases it is not yet clear whether the persons died from the virus or from their pre-existing chronic diseases or from a combination of both.
The two Italians deceased under 40 years of age (both 39 years old) were a cancer patient and a diabetes patient with additional complications. In these cases, too, the exact cause of death was not yet clear (i.e. if from the virus or from their pre-existing diseases).
The partial overloading of the hospitals is due to the general rush of patients and the increased number of patients requiring special or intensive care. In particular, the aim is to stabilize respiratory function and, in severe cases, to provide anti-viral therapies.
(Update: The Italian National Institute of Health published a statistical report on test-positive patients and deceased, confirming the above data.)
The following aspects should also be taken into account:
Northern Italy has one of the oldest populations and the worst air quality in Europe, which had already led to an increased number of respiratory diseases and deaths in the past and is likely an additional risk factor in the current epidemic.
South Korea, for instance, has experienced a much milder course than Italy and has already passed the peak of the epidemic. In South Korea, only about 70 deaths with a positive test result have been reported so far. As in Italy, those affected were mostly high-risk patients.
The few dozen test-positive Swiss deaths so far were also high-risk patients with chronic diseases, an average age of more than 80 years and a maximum age of 97 years, whose exact cause of death, i.e. from the virus or from their pre-existing diseases, is not yet known.
Furthermore, studies have shown that the internationally used virus test kits may give a false positive result in some cases. In these cases, the persons may not have contracted the new coronavirus, but presumably one of the many existing human coronaviruses that are part of the annual (and currently ongoing) common cold and flu epidemics. (1)
Thus the most important indicator for judging the danger of the disease is not the frequently reported number of positively-tested persons and deaths, but the number of persons actually and unexpectedly developing or dying from pneumonia (so-called excess mortality).
According to all current data, for the healthy general population of school and working age, a mild to moderate course of the Covid-19 disease can be expected. Senior citizens and persons with existing chronic diseases should be protected. The medical capacities should be optimally prepared.
Medical literature
(1) Patrick et al., An Outbreak of Human Coronavirus OC43 Infection and Serological Cross-reactivity with SARS Coronavirus, CJIDMM, 2006.
(2) Grasselli et al., Critical Care Utilization for the COVID-19 Outbreak in Lombardy, JAMA, March 2020.
(3) WHO, Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019, February 2020.
Reference values
Important reference values include the number of annual flu deaths, which is up to 8,000 in Italy and up to 60,000 in the US; normal overall mortality, which in Italy is up to 2,000 deaths per day; and the average number of pneumonia cases per year, which in Italy is over 120,000.
Current all-cause mortality in Europe and in Italy is still normal or even below-average. Any excess mortality due to Covid-19 should become visible in the European monitoring charts.

Updates
Regular updates on the situation (all sources referenced).
March 17, 2020 (I)
- The mortality profile remains puzzling from a virological point of view because, in contrast to influenza viruses, children are spared and men are affected about twice as often as women. On the other hand, this profile corresponds to natural mortality, which is close to zero for children and almost twice as high for 75-year-old men as for women of the same age.
- The younger test-positive deceased almost always had severe pre-existing conditions. For example, a 21-year-old Spanish soccer coach had died test-positive, making international headlines. However, the doctors diagnosed an unrecognized leukemia, whose typical complications include severe pneumonia.
- The decisive factor in assessing the danger of the disease is therefore not the number of test-positive persons and deceased, which is often mentioned in the media, but the number of people actually and unexpectedly developing or dying from pneumonia (so-called excess mortality). So far, this value remains very low in most countries.
- In Switzerland, some emergency units are already overloaded simply because of the large number of people who want to be tested. This points to an additional psychological and logistical component of the current situation.
March 17, 2020 (II)
- Italian immunology professor Sergio Romagnani from the University of Florence comes to the conclusion in a study on 3000 people that 50 to 75% of the test-positive people of all ages remain completely symptom-free – significantly more than previously assumed.
- The occupancy rate of the North Italian ICUs in the winter months is typically already 85 to 90%. Some or many of these existing patients could also be test-positive by now. However, the number of additional unexpected pneumonia cases is not yet known.
- A hospital doctor in the Spanish city of Malaga writes on Twitter that people are currently more likely to die from panic and systemic collapse than from the virus. The hospital is being overrun by people with colds, flu and possibly Covid19 and doctors have lost control.
March 18, 2020
- A new epidemiological study (preprint) concludes that the fatality of Covid19 even in the Chinese city of Wuhan was only 0.04% to 0.12% and thus rather lower than that of seasonal flu, which has a mortality rate of about 0.1%. As a reason for the overestimated fatality of Covid19, the researchers suspect that initially only a small number of cases were recorded in Wuhan, as the disease was probably asymptomatic or mild in many people.
- Chinese researchers argue that extreme winter smog in the city of Wuhan may have played a causal role in the outbreak of pneumonia. In the summer of 2019, public protests were already taking place in Wuhan because of the poor air quality.
- New satellite images show how Northern Italy has the highest levels of air pollution in Europe, and how this air pollution has been greatly reduced by the quarantine.
- A manufacturer of the Covid19 test kit states that it should only be used for research purposes and not for diagnostic applications, as it has not yet been clinically validated.

March 19, 2020 (I)
The Italian National Health Institute ISS has published a new report on test-positive deaths:
- The median age is 80.5 years (79.5 for men, 83.7 for women).
- 10% of the deceased was over 90 years old; 90% of the deceased was over 70 years old.
- At most 0.8% of the deceased had no pre-existing chronic illnesses.
- Approximately 75% of the deceased had two or more pre-existing conditions, 50% had three more pre-existing conditions, in particular heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
- Five of the deceased were between 31 and 39 years old, all of them with serious pre-existing health conditions (e.g. cancer or heart disease).
- The National Health Institute hasn’t yet determined what the patients examined ultimately died of and refers to them in general terms as Covid19-positive deaths.
March 19, 2020 (II)
- A report in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera points out that Italian intensive care units already collapsed under the marked flu wave in 2017/2018. They had to postpone operations, call nurses back from holiday and ran out of blood donations.
- German virologist Hendrik Streeck argues that Covid19 is unlikely to increase total mortality in Germany, which normally is around 2500 people per day. Streeck mentions the case of a 78-year-old man with preconditions who died of heart failure, subsequently tested positive for Covid19 and thus was included in the statistics of Covid19 deaths.
- According to Stanford Professor John Ioannidis, the new coronavirus may be no more dangerous than some of the common coronaviruses, even in older people. Ioannidis argues that there is no reliable medical data backing the measures currently decided upon.
March 20, 2020
- According to the latest European monitoring report, overall mortality in all countries (including Italy) and in all age groups remains within or even below the normal range so far.
- According to the latest German statistics, the median age of test-positive deaths is about 83 years, most with pre-existing health conditions that might be a possible cause of death.
- A 2006 Canadian study referred to by Stanford Professor John Ioannidis found that common cold coronaviruses may also cause death rates of up to 6% in risk groups such as residents of a care facility, and that virus test kits initially falsely indicated an infection with SARS coronaviruses.
March 21, 2020 (I)
- Spain reports only three test-positive deaths under the age of 65 (out of a total of about 1000). Their pre-existing health conditions and actual cause of death are not yet known.
- On March 20, Italy reported 627 nationwide test-positive deaths in one day. By comparison, normal overall mortality in Italy is about 1800 deaths per day. Since February 21, Italy has reported about 4000 test-positive deaths. Normal overall mortality during this time frame is up to 50,000 deaths. It is not yet known to what extent normal overall mortality has increased, or to what extent it has simply turned test-positive. Moreover, Italy and Europe have had a very mild flu season in 2019/2020 that has spared many otherwise vulnerable people.
- According to Italian news reports, 90% of test-positive deceased in the Lombardy region have died outside of intensive care units, mostly at home or in general care sections. Their cause of death and the possible role of quarantine measures in their deaths remain unclear. Only 260 out of 2168 test-positive persons have died in ICUs.
- Bloomberg highlights that „99% of Those Who Died From Virus Had Other Illness, Italy Says“

March 21, 2020 (II)
- The Japan Times asks: Japan was expecting a coronavirus explosion. Where is it? Despite being one of the first countries getting positive test results and having imposed no lockdown, Japan is one of the least-affected nations. Quote: „Even if Japan may not be counting all those infected, hospitals aren’t being stretched thin and there has been no spike in pneumonia cases.“
- Italian researchers argue that the extreme smog in Northern Italy, the worst in Europe, may be playing a causative role in the current pneumonia outbreak there, as in Wuhan before.
- In a new interview, Professor Sucharit Bhakdi, a world renowned expert in medical microbiology, says blaming the new coronavirus alone for deaths is „wrong“ and „dangerously misleading“, as there are other more important factors at play, notably pre-existing health conditions and poor air quality in Chinese and Northern Italian cities. Professor Bhakdi describes the currently discussed or imposed measures as „grotesque“, „useless“, „self-destructive“ and a „collective suicide“ that will shorten the lifespan of the elderly and should not be accepted by society.
March 22, 2020 (I)
Regarding the situation in Italy: Most major media falsely report that Italy has up to 800 deaths per day from the coronavirus. In reality, the president of the Italian Civil Protection Service stresses that these are deaths „with the coronavirus and not from the coronavirus“ (minute 03:30 of the press conference). In other words, these persons died while also testing positive.
As Professors Ioannidis and Bhakdi have shown, countries like South Korea and Japan that introduced no lockdown measures have experienced near-zero excess mortality in connection with Covid-19, while the Diamond Princess cruise ship experienced an extrapolated mortality figure in the per mille range, i.e. at or below the level of the seasonal flu.
Current test-positive death figures in Italy are still less than 50% of normal daily overall mortality in Italy, which is around 1800 deaths per day. Thus it is possible, perhaps even likely, that a large part of normal daily mortality now simply counts as „Covid19“ deaths (as they test positive). This is the point stressed by the President of the Italian Civil Protection Service.
However, by now it is clear that certain regions in Northern Italy, i.e. those facing the toughest lockdown measures, are experiencing markedly increased daily mortality figures. It is also known that in the Lombardy region, 90% of test-positive deaths occur not in intensive care units, but instead mostly at home. And more than 99% have serious pre-existing health conditions.
Professor Sucharit Bhakdi has called lockdown measures „useless“, „self-destructive“ and a „collective suicide“. Thus the extremely troubling question arises as to what extent the increased mortality of these elderly, isolated, highly stressed people with multiple pre-existing health conditions may in fact be caused by the weeks-long lockdown measures still in force.
If so, it may be one of those cases where the treatment is worse than the disease. (See update below: only 12% of death certificates show the coronavirus as a cause.)

March 22, 2020 (II)
- In Switzerland, there are currently 56 test-positive deaths, all of whom were „high risk patients“ due to their advanced age and/or pre-existing health conditions. Their actual cause of death, i.e. from or simply with the virus, has not been communicated.
To read the rest of the article, go to: https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
