Ghost Towns

Column #260

Shutdowns are not a cure for COVID-19. Immunity is the cure. A person’s natural immunity is made stronger or weaker by their lifestyle. Many factors are involved in addition to the diet. But one of the most powerful markers for the health of the immune system is the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs). Ratios exceeding 4:1 are associated with autoimmune diseases of all kinds and chronic diseases generally. Most Americans have ratios well above that level. Since those two fatty acid families are essential, only food choices determine the ratio.^{1 2 3 4}

Many people have forgotten the strategy that was behind the shutdown decisions. Consequently, some people are still calling for more shutdowns or extended shutdowns which are not needed nor are they practical. Here’s why.

The primary reason for shutting down the economy in the first place was to temporarily slow the spread and flatten the infection curve. A flattening of the curve was needed because the CDC, the nation’s hospitals, and all citizens needed more time to prepare for a rapid increase in the number of very sick, highly infectious patients.⁵

Over the decades, like most government bureaucracies, the CDC had become bloated with extra personnel, unnecessary programs, and numerous rulings (red tape) that blunted their effectiveness and slowed their responses. Hospitals had spent decades preparing for disasters, but not only were they not properly equipped for treating COVID-19 patients, in order to be financially viable they had been operating at near full capacity with elective surgeries. With the growing prospect of a pandemic, everyone could see that beds had to be made available along with specialized equipment to treat infectious lung diseases. Since it would take time to free up the beds and manufacture and obtain the equipment, slowing the spread became a top priority.

Most of the lockdowns occurred in mid-March when the Trump Administration responded to an Imperial College epidemiology model by Neil Ferguson that predicted two million American deaths by October. (That report was later discredited.) A total of 43 states quickly imposed shelter-in-place style lockdowns. The states that didn’t lockdown were mostly rural western states with low population densities and few outbreaks. At the same time many other countries around the world did shutdown.

By late April, which was after three infection-to-remission cycles of the virus, Georgia, Colorado, and Texas started partial openings. Slowly other states joined in with some not starting until late May. Google mobility patterns indicated that the majority of the shutdowns lasted for about 60 days which is four infection-to-remission cycles of the virus. (Most COVID-19 infections take about two weeks for remission. Yes, you will always find outliers to the norm. But life can’t be lived when judged by outliers.)

During those 60 days, government and industry scrambled to prepare for a resurgence of infections that would surely come with an opening. The manufacturing of PPP equipment including masks, ventilators, hand sanitizes, face shields, and vaccines were ramped up to levels never seen before. Testing stations were established. Breadlines were set up. Financial aid was provided in the trillions of dollars. Hospitals stopped all elective surgeries and opened up a very large percentage of the nation’s 924,107 hospital beds. Even temporary hospitals, complete with beds, were erected and two 1,000-bed naval hospital ships were put into service.

Yes, it was quite a mobilization. As always, in a nation of 326 million individuals anyone can say we should have done MOAR. But in those 60 days the nation pretty well got its act together. Just think, making 326 million widgets and distributing them to 326 million people scattered across 50 states and 3.8 million square miles (as big as China) is not something that happens with a snap of the fingers. That’s why the MSM can always find someone, somewhere, who got “left behind.”

While being very concerned about equipping the healthcare system for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, the bureaucrats in the healthcare agencies made no effort to educate citizens about the importance of improving their natural immunity and how to do it. They mostly emphasized the importance of shutdowns, social distancing, hand washing, and eventually the CDC even recommended masks. In June, the USDA issued “new” dietary guidelines which were basically the same misguided guidelines they had issued 60 years ago. Nothing was mentioned about the EFA ratio.

On February 21, 2020, three weeks before the shutdowns, I posted my first COVID-19 column (Coronavirus Immunity) and its focus was on improving immunity. I provided an in-depth, multistep explanation about what needs to be done and explained that it takes about 10 weeks to make really big improvements in immunity. It was not radical information, it was standard practices that biologists and nutritionists had been recommending for about 40 years. One would think that kind of information would be common knowledge in the ranks of the CDC.⁶

By early May, anyone taking my advice would have had a stronger immune system and, as a bonus, a significant improvement in compromising health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, asthma, heart conditions, and other chronic conditions. Of course, most people never heard that message. In fact, the majority of people who hid in place did just the opposite and damaged their immunity by gaining weight, losing sleep, and stressing out over the daily horror stories served up by the MSM.

A stronger immune system will not prevent people from being infected with a virus. On the other hand, a weak or compromised immune system means the symptoms of a COVID-19 infection will be more severe and possibly deadly. That’s why addressing immunity was a critical step in late February because the entire world knew that people who were overweight, diabetic, asthmatic, smokers, elderly, with a history of heart disease and cancer were going to be hit especially hard when they got the virus. So, why wasn’t improving immunity emphasized by CDC bureaucrats?^{7 8}

In order to survive long term, every country must reopen or their communities will turn into ghost towns. Of course, on reopening there will be more spread because the virus had not run its course. In all likelihood the number of new infections following openings will be the same whether the shutdowns lasted for three, six, or 12 months. Viruses tend to spread until herd immunity is reached. One thing for sure, no country can survive a total shutdown and wait for a viable vaccine to be available. It’s just not possible. Vaccines take at least a year to develop and, in order for modern societies to function, there are too many critical needs required every single day. If those needs aren’t meant, ghost towns will be the result.

A good thing is that doctors and nurses gained valuable experience during the first two months of the pandemic and far better techniques for saving lives were developed. That is saving lives today. Yes, in some cases even the “H” drug helped some people when COVID-19 was detected early enough. Numerous other measures also helped. You can see it in the percentages of deaths compared to reported cases. Two states, hard hit early on, were NJ (8.34%) and NY (7.26%). Hard hit after opening are FL (1.60%), CA (1.82%), and TX (1.73%). The improvements in treating COVID-19 victims are huge and still improving.

The high infection rates in the recently hard hit states are actually good news. It indicates these states are quickly approaching herd immunity. That may be why the number of new active cases in FL, CA, and TX seem to have peaked and appear to be coming down.

I believe most COVID-19 cases go undetected. My guess is that more than four million Floridians (20%) have or have had COVID-19 which indicates the death rate is probably closer to 0.2% and not 1.6%. Most of the cases have been asymptomatic and the vast majority of cases do not last more than two weeks or require hospitalization. On July 31, 2020, two weeks ago, FL reported that overall it had counted 570,000 cases. Because that was two weeks ago, more than 90% of those folks will test negative today. In most cases they can’t infect others and they have immunity that protects them from another infection. My bet is that their immunity is better than a vaccine.⁹

COVID-19 will be with us in 2021. Plan on it. That will happen with or without a vaccine. And when the vaccine is available, real CDC data for the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine may be similar for COVID-19: “. . . the vaccine effectiveness (VE) ratings for the vaccine used during the 2017-2018 influenza season that was given to 42% of the US population. The end-of-season VE overall rate was only 38%, which included rates of 22% effectiveness against influenza A(H3N2), 62% against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, and 50% against influenza B. Overall, for people over 65 years of age the vaccine was only 12% effective.”¹⁰

It’s time for all Americans to grow up and face the music just like the Swedes. The Swedes did not harm their children emotionally with lockdowns and closed schools. Today the Swedes are not dying like flies. They did not lockdown. For the most part their schools are functioning normally. Stress levels for all citizens were minimized. They did not have to print trillions of kronas (mortgage their children’s future) to bailout their citizens. They did not crush their small businesses. Their economy did slump (way less than others) due mostly to a drop in exports to their neighboring countries that dictated shutdowns.

The Swedes had an initial surge of deaths that was rather gut wrenching. Many deaths may have been, like everywhere else, due to their hospitals not being up to speed in treating COVID-19 victims based on what’s known today. But from Sweden’s daily death chart one can see what approaching herd immunity looks like. Interestingly, NY has a similar looking chart. NY got whacked hard early on and today not so much.

Many Americans are showing up for work every day. Many workers, such as Walmart employees, are exposed to hundreds of different people every day. They are on the job and they aren’t paid as much as school teachers. Yet they are instrumental in keeping people fed, clothed, and supplied with the necessities they must have to function. For all the employed people who are keeping commerce going, I applaud President Trump’s move to temporarily suspend some of the payroll taxes. That gives workers a temporary, short-term raise in pay which I think they deserve. In addition, I applaud the reduction in unemployment benefits. The ridiculously high rate of $600 a week, in addition to normal state-provided unemployment benefits, was in most cases a raise in pay for laid off workers. That made the people who continued to work feel a little stupid for working for less money than what their peers were getting for not working.

Churches, schools and colleges, small businesses, restaurants, sporting events, motels and hotels, and the entertainment industries need to fully reopen. Everyone needs to recognize that unlike some influenzas, children are not hit as hard by COVID-19 as their elders. And it’s the elders who have to think for themselves. Adults have to be intelligent and take whatever appropriate steps are necessary to protect themselves for each circumstance. With the amount of money that has been spent on education in this country during the past 70 years, I would think nearly everyone should be capable of thinking intelligently for themselves. If not, we have to question how children are being educated.¹¹

Americans are not wards of the state like the Chinese or Cubans. They are not supposed to goose-step in unison to the dictates of bureaucrats. Our constitution recognized all citizens as kings and established a republic to prevent mob rule. Americans are responsible for their own actions, their own decisions, their own property, and their own children. And one of the most important decisions they can make is to ramp up their immunity by taking care of themselves and eating appropriate whole foods.¹²

The incentives we need from the halls of Congress must inspire a return to business, normalcy, practical problem solving, and teamwork rather than panic, shutdowns, and more stress. We can’t print our way to a utopian state where it’s all grass-fed tenderloin and a life of leisure. We can’t run away and hide from COVID-19. Of course the most vulnerable must take extreme precautions just like they do now. There is no question about that.

The rest of us must bolster our immune systems, pick up the slack, and set good examples for future generations to follow. For the most part, as individuals we determine our fate. We can be quitters and blame others for our shortcomings, or we can be persistent. I know that if I hadn’t been persistent and optimistic over the years, I would have nothing today and my life would resemble a ghost town.

We must exhibit independent thinking, self control, smarts, courage and roll up our sleeves and get to work. That is what Americans have always done for many generations.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

Don’t miss these links for additional reading:

1. Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Inflammation and Autoimmune Diseases by Dr. Artemis Simopoulos

2. An Increase in the Omega-6 Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio nutrients Increases the Risk for Obesity by Dr. Artemis Simopoulos

3. Omega 3 Test use slanker as an offer code and save

4. Ted Slanker’s Omega-3 Blood Test

5. Mission Creep and Wasteful Spending Left the CDC Unprepared for an Actual Public Health Crisis from Reason Foundation

6. Coronavirus Immunity by Ted Slanker

7. Six Questions an Honest, Intelligent Reporter Would Ask Dr. Fauci About COVID-19 by Stacey Lennox

8. Fact Checking Fauci by Phillip W. Magness from American Institute for Economic Research

9. Nasal Gene Expression of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 in Children and Adults by Supinda Bunyavanich, MD, MPH; Anh Do, PhD; Alfin Vicencio, MD from JAMA Network

10. Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness (VE), 2017-2018 from CDC

11. Nasal Gene Expression of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 in Children and Adults by Supinda Bunyavanich, MD, MPH; Anh Do, PhD; Alfin Vicencio, MD from JAMA Network