{"id":169371,"date":"2020-09-28T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T11:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=169371"},"modified":"2020-12-02T09:54:21","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T09:54:21","slug":"facts-about-covid-19-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/09\/facts-about-covid-19-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Facts about Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sep 2020 – <\/em>Fully referenced facts about Covid-19, provided by experts in the field, to help our readers make a realistic risk assessment. (Regular updates below)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only means to fight the plague is honesty.\u201d<\/em> (Albert Camus, 1947)<\/p>\n

Overview<\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. According to the latest immunological studies, the overall lethality of Covid-19<\/strong> (IFR) in the general population ranges between 0.1% and 0.5%<\/a> in most countries, which is comparable to the medium influenza pandemics of 1957 and 1968.<\/li>\n
  2. For people at high risk or high exposure (including health care workers), early or prophylactic<\/a> treatment<\/strong> is essential to prevent progression of the disease.<\/li>\n
  3. In countries like the UK (with lockdown) and Sweden (without lockdown), overall mortality<\/strong> since the beginning of the year is in the range of<\/a> a strong influenza season; mortality is higher in the USA<\/a> (comparable to 1957\/1968), but lower in countries like Germany and Switzerland. However, antibody values<\/a> are still low in large parts of previously locked-down Europe.<\/li>\n
  4. In most places, the risk of death<\/strong> for the healthy general population of school and working age is comparable to a daily car ride to work<\/a>. The risk was initially overestimated because many people with only mild or no symptoms were not taken into account.<\/li>\n
  5. About 80% of all people develop only<\/a> mild symptoms or no symptoms. Even among 70-79 year olds, about 60%<\/a> develop only mild symptoms<\/strong>. About 95% of all people develop at most moderate symptoms<\/a> and do not require hospitalization.<\/li>\n
  6. Up to 60% of all people may already have<\/a> a partial T-cell immune response <\/strong>against the new coronavirus due to contact with previous coronaviruses (i.e. cold viruses). Moreover, up to 60% of children and about 6% of adults may already have<\/a> cross-reactive antibodies.<\/li>\n
  7. The median age<\/strong> of Covid deaths in most Western countries is over 80 years<\/a> \u2013 e.g. 84 years in Sweden \u2013 and only about 4%<\/a> of the deceased had no serious preconditions. In contrast to flu pandemics, the age and risk profile of deaths thus essentially corresponds to normal mortality<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  8. In many countries, up to two thirds<\/a> of all extra deaths occurred in nursing homes<\/strong>, which do not benefit from a general lockdown. Moreover, in many cases it is not clear<\/a> whether these people really died from Covid-19 or from weeks of extreme stress and isolation<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  9. Up to 30% of all additional deaths<\/strong> may have been caused not by Covid-19<\/a>, but by the effects of the lockdown, panic and fear<\/a>. For example, the treatment of heart attacks and strokes decreased<\/a> by up to 40% because many patients no longer dared to go to hospital.<\/li>\n
  10. Many media reports of young and healthy people<\/strong> dying from Covid-19 turned out to be false: many of these young people either did not die<\/a> from Covid-19, they had already been seriously ill<\/a> (e.g. from undiagnosed leukaemia), or they were in fact 109 instead of 9<\/a> years old. The claimed increase in Kawasaki disease in children also turned out to be exaggerated<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  11. Most Covid-19 symptoms<\/strong> can also be caused by severe influenza (including pneumonia, thrombosis<\/a> and the temporary loss of the sense of taste and smell<\/a>), but with severe Covid-19 these symptoms are indeed much more frequent<\/a> and more pronounced.<\/li>\n
  12. About 10% of symptomatic people develop so-called post-acute (\u201clong\u201d) Covid<\/strong> and report symptoms that last for several weeks or months<\/a>. This may also affect younger and previously healthy people with a strong immune response to the new coronavirus.<\/li>\n
  13. The often shown exponential curves of \u201ccorona cases\u201d<\/strong> are misleading<\/a>, as the number of tests also increased exponentially. In most countries, the ratio of positive tests to tests overall (i.e. the positivity rate) always remained below 20%<\/a>. In many countries, the peak of the spread was already reached well before the lockdown<\/a> came into effect.<\/li>\n
  14. In most Covid hotspots, including New York City, London, Stockholm and Bergamo, the infection rate dropped as soon as about 20% of people<\/a> had developed antibodies<\/strong> against the new coronavirus. This value is much lower than the inital estimate of 60 to 80%.<\/li>\n
  15. Countries without lockdown<\/strong>, such as Japan<\/a>, Belarus<\/a> and Sweden<\/a>, have not experienced<\/a> a more negative course of events than many other countries. Sweden was even praised<\/a> by the WHO and now benefits from higher immunity<\/a> compared to lockdown countries. 75% of Swedish deaths happened in<\/a> nursing facilities that weren\u2019t protected fast enough.<\/li>\n
  16. The fear of a shortage of ventilators<\/strong> was unjustified<\/a>. According to lung specialists, the invasive ventilation (intubation) of Covid-19 patients, which is partly done out of fear<\/a> of spreading the virus, is in fact often counterproductive<\/a> and damaging to the lungs.<\/li>\n
  17. The main routes of transmission<\/strong> of the virus are direct contact and droplets<\/a> produced when talking or coughing, but also indoor aerosols<\/a> (small particles floating in the air). Outdoor aerosols and surfaces of objects appear to play only a minor role<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  18. There is still little to no scientific evidence<\/a> for the effectiveness of cloth face masks<\/strong> in the general population, and the introduction of mandatory masks couldn\u2019t contain<\/a> or slow the epidemic in most countries. Some experts warn that face masks may interfere with normal breathing and may become \u201cgerm carriers\u201d<\/a> if used repeatedly.<\/li>\n
  19. Many clinics<\/strong> in Europe and the US remained\u00a0largely underutilized<\/a> during lockdowns and in some cases had to send staff home<\/a>. Millions of surgeries and therapies were cancelled<\/a>, including many cancer screenings and organ transplants.<\/li>\n
  20. Several media<\/strong> were caught trying to dramatize<\/a> the situation in hospitals, sometimes even with manipulative images<\/a> and videos. In general, the unprofessional reporting<\/a> of many media maximized fear and panic in the population. As a result, according to international surveys, most people dramatically overestimate<\/a> Covid-19 lethality and mortality.<\/li>\n
  21. The virus test kits<\/strong> used internationally may in some cases produce false positive<\/a> and false negative results, react to non-infectious virus fragments<\/a> from a previous infection, or react to other common coronaviruses<\/a> with a partially similar gene sequence.<\/li>\n
  22. Numerous internationally renowned experts<\/a> in the fields of virology, immunology and epidemiology consider the measures<\/strong> taken to be counterproductive<\/a> and recommend rapid natural immunization<\/a> of the general population and protection of risk groups.<\/li>\n
  23. At no time was there a medical reason<\/a> for the closure of elementary schools<\/strong>, as the risk of disease and transmission in children is extremely low<\/a>. There is also no medical reason<\/a> for small classes, masks or \u2018social distancing\u2019 rules in elementary schools.<\/li>\n
  24. Several medical experts described<\/a> express coronavirus vaccines<\/strong> as unnecessary<\/a> or even dangerous<\/a>. Indeed, the vaccine against the so-called swine flu<\/a> of 2009, for example, led to cases of severe neurological damage<\/a> and lawsuits in the millions. In the testing of new coronavirus vaccines, too, serious complications<\/a> and failures<\/a> have already been reported.<\/li>\n
  25. A global respiratory disease pandemic can indeed extend over several seasons<\/a>, but many studies of a \u201csecond wave\u201d<\/strong> are based on very unrealistic assumptions<\/a>, such as a constant risk of illness and death across all age groups.<\/li>\n
  26. US nurses described an oftentimes fatal<\/a> medical mis\u00admanage\u00adment <\/strong>of Covid patients due to questionable financial incentives<\/a> and inappropriate medical protocols. However, in many places Covid lethality has dropped significantly<\/a> due to better treatment options.<\/li>\n
  27. The number of people suffering from unemployment<\/strong>, depression<\/a> and domestic violence as a result of the measures has reached historic record levels<\/a>. Several experts predict that the measures will claim far more lives<\/a> than the virus itself. According to the UN 1.6 billion people<\/a> around the world are at immediate risk of losing their livelihood.<\/li>\n
  28. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden warned that the \u201ccorona crisis\u201d may be used for the permanent expansion<\/a> of global surveillance<\/strong>. In several parts of the world, the population is being monitored by drones<\/a> and facing serious police overreach during lockdowns.<\/li>\n
  29. A 2019 WHO study on measures against pandemic influenza found that from a medical perspective, \u201ccontact tracing\u201d<\/strong> is \u201cnot recommended in any circumstances\u201d<\/a>. Nevertheless, contact tracing apps have already become<\/a> partially mandatory in several countries<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  30. The origin of the new coronavirus<\/strong> remains unknown, but the best evidence currently points to a Covid-like pneumonia incident<\/a> in a Chinese mine in 2012, the viral samples of which were collected, stored and examined by the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Read more<\/strong>: On the treatment of Covid-19<\/a><\/p>\n