Ok. Deep breath. Feel better?
Most of the nation survived the first full week of social distancing. We distanced ourselves, assisted our children as they engaged in “home learning,” and attempted to make life as normal as possible for our families.
The stock market tanked. Thousands of small businesses went bankrupt, millions closed their doors and wonder if they will be able to survive once they re-open.
Amidst all of the attempts to flatten the curve, increase the number of testing locales and kits available, and randomly requiring people to stay at home the number of confirmed infections went up—while the percentages of deaths related to them went down.
Most importantly, an on-the-shelf cure for COVID-19 has finally been authorized. It has a 99.75 percent effectiveness in controlled studies.
I interviewed the co-author, Gregory Rigano of Johns Hopkins and Stanford, about the reliability of the studies.
But what good is it to know that a cure exists that stops the virus and dismantled it in 99.75 percent of the cases it is studied in if the Surgeon General is still claiming day and night on every news channel that its effectiveness is not yet proven?
Multiple controlled studies, the most significant one authored by Dr. Didier Rauolt in southern France, have seen that 99.75 percent cure rate be matched over and over.
Nonetheless, the panic-driven media, the big money-lust vaccine research grant types, and the swampy Surgeon General are still dismissive of the idea that a cheap, inexpensive-to-produce, readily available anti-viral that was created in 1934, used widely in 1945, and known to be effective against viruses since the 1970s should be the end of a virus that has killed off life in America.
So here’s what we need to do to bring this thing to an end so that America can begin the larger recovery:
- Adopt immediate use, in the recommended dosages in Dr. Rauolt’s study, for frontline medical workers. The CDC says it is effective as a preventative. Then let’s arm up the heroes of this battle so that they are protected.
- Immediately begin prescribing for worst cases (elderly, asthmatic, upper respiratory vulnerable), then those who have contracted, then those who have positive tests, and lastly those merely exposed. Do it in this order and start yesterday. American companies should be able to produce between 15-20 million more pills before the end of this week.
- Be generous. I know of one small business owner who has already paid the rent/mortgage for Broadway ushers, eatery waitstaff, and others he’s learned of. That’s the spirit of Americans coming together.
- Originate the stimulus only for those in need. This “$2,000 in every pocket” idea sounds nice—and is a windfall for many, but for those who have effectively lived within their means, there is no real reason to shell out the money.
- Open businesses a week from Monday. The pain has been severe, even as eateries have tried to convert to curbside delivery they are still shedding losses of enormous amounts. Same with barbershops, retailers, cinemas, and gyms.
- Rollback into play the freedom to assemble. Life has been excruciating for many to not have contact with the outside. My own 10-year old broke down in tears this week because he couldn’t invite his friend and classmate – who lives directly behind us and has an unlocked gate to our back yard – over to play.
- Refuse to fear. The media, the swamp, and politically motivated Never Trumpers, Democrats, and the left are all trying to get you to lose your mind. Don’t let them. Clean and reload all the firearms in your home. Participate with your friends through their social media push-up challenges. Take an Instagram yoga time out. Enjoy the free American Ballet Theater virtual ballet classes with your baby girl. Or send your boys to their virtual Taekwondo class on YouTube. Live, and never let anyone stop you.
Fourteen days ago the “experts” predicted we’d be out of hospital beds in 10 days.
We’re not even close.
The regular flu has taken 13,000 American lives this flu season, out of 38,000,000 being infected. COVID-19 has yet to infect even a million people on the entire planet thus far and as of this writing for roughly the same period as the flu, the Wuhan coronavirus has killed 300 Americans.
The cure has been found. Stay calm. Enjoy this week with your family. Live your life.
And come back STRONG!
It’s what we as Americans do!
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this column suggested that New York's Lenox Hill Hospital had used Hydroxychloroquine to treat its patients. That has since been debunked by Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonologist at the hospital.