b'Editorup, and the President has repeatedly downplayed thementsmost had more than one. It was the same situa- too small and human-to-human is not established, so far.importanceofmasstesting.Early-on,heactuallytion in Italy, where more than 99% of people who diedWith strategic mass testing, we would have been scoffed at the idea of more testing, as it would haveof Covid-19 had at least one, and most several, serious,able to identify and isolate pockets of Covid-19 infec-raised the number of diagnosed cases. As of publica- underlying health conditionthe average age was 79. tionsintheplaceswheretheywerefirstreported, tion, the U.S. has the most cases of any nation, we areWe are in no way suggesting that people with ex- Seattle in our case. We could have followed that up facinganewGreatDepression,and30,000peopleisting health conditions be sacrificed in the name ofwith testing in places where travelers from the source are dead from Covid-19. We are conducting less thansaving the economy. What we are saying is that wecountries arrived into the U.S., and there sure as hell 10,000 tests per day on average, with virtually all pa- should have quarantined those who were most at risk,should not be a qualification process for being tested, tients already exhibiting symptoms. and not everyone else. The President said, The curebased on symptoms. From the first day the existence The Koreans tested 10,000 people per day whencannot be worse than the disease. It is. Much worse. of Covid-19 was announced, it was also reported that they were in the full throes of containing the pandemicasymptomatic people can carry the virus and infect inside their country. For our population, the U.S. wouldAs a whole, only 103 of 5,429others. More than a month later, the Governor of Geor-be conducting 63,000 tests per day to match their pace,gia proclaimed his shock at learning this basic fact that making us more than 80% behind, as more than 1,500fatalities in NYC had no seriouseven casual news consumers already knew. Even more people per day die of the disease. painful was the Surgeon General announcing this new That stated, the models predicting the impact ofhealth conditions like heartinformation to the public, two days later. Just about Covid-19 in the United States were ridiculously off, anddisease, diabetes, cancer, lungeveryone who has tested positive for Covid-19 in the like in Nueces County on Good Friday, elected officialsU.S. had already been spreading the virus for up to two haveusedtheoverinflatedwarningstoempowerdisease, or an array of seriousweeksagainwith few or no symptoms.compliance with shutdown policies. Forget the insanityWe know now what we have seen over more than of the predictions versus what is actually happening, allailmentsmost had more than one.a month in Europethat 99.2% of patients who die Wild projections from TAMUCC of 10,000 toTexans lined up for free food 10 days after shutdown87,000 cases of Covid-19 in the Coastal BendAustins 6th Street on the weekend South by Southwest was originally scheduledstrategies were based on worst-case, Doomsday scenar- I BROKE A FINGER, SO I CHOPPED OFF MY ARM. from Covid-19 had at least one underlying health con-ios that started and ended in a lab, and never made itHindsight is 20/20, and so too can be the view fromdition, regardless of age. Instead of doing all we could one step into the real world. California has had a betterwithin, even while you are still living a crisis. Covid-19to protect those populations, along with the healthcare outcome with Covid-19 than just about any place on thehas not served as a celebration of Americas greatestworkers who care for them, we decided that turning off planet, but Governor Gavin Newsome played the Chick- intellectual momentquite the opposite. society was the only solution.en Little role in shaking his population into complianceThe best response to the coronavirus might haveOne excercise in random testing for Covid-19 that by stating that as many as 26 million Californians couldbeen to first immediately develop and manufacture ac- has been conducted was of pregnant women in New contract the disease. Three weeks later, his state has re- curate testing systems and distribute them to healthYork City. If you are admitted to the hospital to deliver ported about 22,000 caseseasy way to claim success. departmentsacrossthecountry.Oneofthemanya baby right now, you are considered high-risk, so you But you want to get really angry? American university epidemiology researchers in Chi- will be given a coronavirus test. Of 215 pregant women It was reported in the first news of the outbreakna should have immediately started the process of de- in NYC who were tested, 33 (15%) came up positive; of that Covid-19 presented the greatest risk to the elderly.veloping a vaccine, as soon as human-to-human trans- those, 29 (87%) were exhibiting no symptoms of Co-While true, it was not because those patients were old.mission was suspected. To our great peril, we have leftvid-19. According to the New England Journal of Medi-It was because we tend to develop health conditions asthis assessment solely in the hands of the devious andcine, the finding that 15% of a completely random sam-we get old. In fact, in New York City, the world epicen- dishonest Chinese communist government, supportedpling of New Yorkers tested positive for the virus, and ter of Covid-19, the percentage of patients who diedin their propaganda by the WHO.that barely more than 10% exhibited any symptoms over the age of 65, who did not have at least one con- The N7H9 coronavirus, which is at least ten timeswhatsoever before dischargemild fevers for all three tributing health condition, is lower than those undermore deadly than Covid-19, is highly suspected to havecasescombined with the fact that tests have returned 65. As a whole, only 103 of 5,429 fatalities in NYC hadtransferred between people despite claims to the con- a high rate of false-negatives, means that the infection no serious health conditions like heart disease, dia- trary. Chinese researchers have declined to produce arate is exponentially higher than the number of report-betes, cancer, lung disease, or an array of serious ail- vaccine because they say that the outbreaks have beened cases. More important, and what should offer both 28 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEQ2.2020 TheCoastalBend.com'