By David Stockman
April 17, 2020 "Information
Clearing House" - We are getting sick
and tired of the CNN/Cuomo Brothers inquisition and the
Coviddeath Cavalcade. Their relentless, morose, partisan
coverage of the coronavirus pandemic is the single greatest
campaign of misinformation, disinformation, propaganda,
scaremongering and elitist prattle we can recall in our entire
lifetime.
Indeed, Joe McCarthy’s Red Scare was a Sunday School picnic
compared to CovidGate. And just as there were no commies
secretly subverting America 66 years ago, there is no deathly
contagion stalking the American people today and no public
health emergency that remotely justifies the Lockdown Nation
regime that the CNN/Cuomo Brothers and infectious disease lobby
have foisted on the country with virtually no public debate or
democratic accountability.
By every measure, New York is the aberrant epicenter of the
Covid-19 outbreak. So what you find in the New York stats has
got to be definitive, but what they’re conclusive about is the
very opposite of the hysteria being propagated by the Cuomos &
friends.
The New York data, in fact, show that Covid-19 almost
pinpointedly attacks the old, the frail, and the medically
vulnerable, not the general population.
In turn, that means that public health measures should be
focused on identifying, isolating, protecting, treating and
supporting the very small sub-population that is bearing the
brunt of the illness and deaths, while allowing the vast bulk of
the population to get back to normal social and economic life
forthwith.
As we document below, the peak of new cases and deaths is now in
the rear-view mirror. So what we can glean from the New York
stats through April 13th reporting is definitive and will only
get even more definitive in the weeks ahead.
As of 1PM today, the nationwide death count “WITH” Covid-19 was
23,529. And we go full monte with CAPs, quotes, bolds and
italics for the reason that it is self-evident the virus per
se didn’t kill many or most of these people: It triggered
organ and function failures that were already embedded in
pre-existing morbidities. And that truth is validated in spades
by the New York data. As of this afternoon, New York had
reported 10,834 corona deaths or 45% of the national total.
But when you look at the break-out by age categories and rates
relative to population, the numbers are simply stunning:
· Under 50 years: 642 deaths or 4.9 per
100,000;
· 50-69 years: 3,174 deaths or 65 per 100,00;
· 70-79 years: 2,888 deaths or 272 per 100,000;
· 80 years+: 4,130 deaths or 1,086 per 100,000.
In short, 18% of all the Covid-19 nationwide
deaths crawling across the CNN screen today have been among New
Yorkers 80 years and older; and 7,018 or 30% of national deaths
and 65% of New York Covid-19 deaths have been among those 70
years and older.
Are You Tired Of
The Lies And
Non-Stop Propaganda?
|
To be sure, as a member of the
70+ class of New York residents, we don’t
begrudge anyone the longest and happiest life
possible. But we are here talking about the
appropriate public policy response to a bad
winter flu and suggest that when the mortality
ratio for the over 80 population is 222 times
higher than for those under 50 years old, then
one size surely does not fit all.
Indeed, when it comes to quarantines and contact
tracing, the Cuomo brigade has it assbackwards.
To wit, leave the general population alone where
quarantine is unnecessary and contact tracing is
a ridiculous needle-in-the-haystack waste of
time, and target protection measures on the
vulnerable, instead.
After all, in the entire state of New York there
are only 382,000 souls age 80 or over. Would it
not have been far more rational for Governor
Cuomo’s health department minions to track down
these 382,000 vulnerable elderly rather than to
shutdown the entire economy of the state in
order protect 13.05 million folks under 50 years
from a death risk which amounts to a minuscule
4.9 per 100,000?
In all honesty, that latter figure is a rounding
error in the scheme of things. Every year in New
York state, 11,760 persons under 50 years or
91.3 per 100,000 suffer an untimely
death—including 3,428 from auto and other
accidents and 917 from suicides.
Since the infection wave, hospitalizations and
death numbers have now clearly peaked and will
be falling sharply in the weeks ahead (see
above), we can say with some considerable
confidence that when the Covid is gone, it is
doubtful whether more than 917 New Yorkers under
50—the normal year suicide population— will have
died WITH the coronavirus.
That’s 7.0 souls per 100,000—and its just plain
insane to got into plenary Lockdown on their
account—especially because the predominant share
of under 50 year-olds who have succumbed WITH
the coronavirus were also suffering from one or
more morbidities, especially hypertension,
diabetes and COPD (see below).
Indeed, that gets us to the even more damning
stats in the New York data. To wit, only 1,242
or 11% of New York’s 10,834 Covid-deaths (as of
April 13) were not accompanied by at least one
of the top 10 co-morbidities.
By contrast, of the 9,592 cases with these
conditions, the total co-morbidities were
19,280. That means the New Yorkers among this
group died with an average of 2.01 comorbidities,
and some with three or four.
Again, when you stratify by age, the injunction
to identify, trace, isolate and treat by
indicated vulnerability could not be more
dispositive. Among the 4,130 persons aged 80 or
older who have died in New York,
· 2,489 or 60% had hypertension;
· 1,264 or 31% had diabetes;
· 845 had hyperlipidemia (blood disorder);
· 605 had coronary artery disease;
· 819 had dementia;
· 425 had renal disease;
· 534 had COPD;
· 366 had cancer;
· 386 had congestive heart failure.
So Governor Cuomo, riddle us this. In lieu of
your daily reality TV show and presidential campaign audition,
way didn’t you mobilize the doctors and health authorities to
identify these 10,834 medically imperiled among the thousands
more with like and similar conditions among the 382,000
octogenarians in your state in order that every possible
precaution could have been taken weeks ago?
Compared to the needle-in-the-haystack idiocy of contact tracing
among the general population, the state’s doctors and health
agencies do actually know the names, addresses and social
security number of nearly every one of these medically
vulnerable cases. That’s where the resources should have
gone—not into a mindless Lockdown of the entire economy.
Indeed, when you look at the next most vulnerable category, the
1.26 million state residents aged 70-79, the story becomes even
more compelling. In this age bracket, there have been 2,888
deaths WITH Covid reported as of April 13th, which, as indicated
above, represents 272 per 100,000.
But, not surprisingly, 62%, 45%, 23% and 14% also had
hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and coronary artery
disease, respectively. In all, this group had 5,695
comorbidities among the to 10 diseases, which amounts to 2.0 per
deceased.
In sum, 7,018 or 65% of the WITH Covid deaths in New York were
70 years and older and suffered from 13,800 instances of these
major underlying illnesses that could have been readily
identified by the doctors and health care professionals who
treat them.
Likewise, even the 3,174 deaths among aged 50-69 overwhelmingly
involved 4,848 comorbidities, including 2,930 cases of
hypertension and diabetes alone.
Finally, among the 642 deaths under 50 years, there were fully
634 cases of the top 10 morbidities.
That is to say, there have been virtually no deaths among the
disease free population under 50. Yet hundreds of thousands have
been infected and tens of thousands have become symptomatic or
sick, but recovered from this novel flu in the normal fashion.
Here’s the thing. The US economy was so weakened by 30 years of
debt, speculation and money-printing that its own economic
“immune” system was at ultra low ebb.
So the Lockdown Folly will prove to be far more destructive than
would have otherwise been the case. So now is the time for the
Donald to do something constructive for once, and face-down the
CNN/Cuomo Brothers and infectious disease lobby and stop cold
the economic bleeding cure they have foisted on the US economy
in the name of public health.
And now is the moment. During the last few days, the death rates
have plunged in most of the nation, and clearly even New York
has turned the corner as this chart makes abundantly clear.
But for want of doubt, here is the the nationwide gain in new
cases WITH Covid-19. It is now down nearly 26% from its Good
Friday peak, after accelerating in early April:
April 5-April 14 trend: 25,974, 28,752, 30,437, 30,130, 34,346,
34,617, 29,591, 28,983, 24,948, 25,699
So let us repeat: The New York Covid epicenter has provided the
pretext for the present nationwide hysteria and insensible acts
of economic suicide.
But its actual data show why the Lockdown should be ended now.
To wit, the 1.64 million residents of New York over 69 years old
account for just 0.5% of the US population, but have suffered
30% of the nation’s deaths WITH Covid.
It is therefore time to tell the economy-wreaking Cuomo Brothers
and their political cohorts and media megaphones to stand down
and let America get back to work, and the doctors and health
professionals refocused on the real victims of this nasty virus.
David Stockman is the ultimate Washington insider
turned iconoclast. He began his career in Washington
as a young man and quickly rose through the ranks of
the Republican Party to become the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget under President
Ronald Reagan. After leaving the White House,
Stockman had a 20-year career on Wall Street.
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