So far, 16,000 people have died and 280,000 people have been hospitalized during the 2019-2020 flu season, according to preliminary estimates from the CDC. And, the season is not even over.
With the effects of the Regular Joe Flu so overwhelming, why is the world melting down over COVID-19? Not to mention the locust crisis in Africa that is poised to kill millions.
COVID-19 is a highly contagious novel virus. Its pandemic spread across the globe makes it serious, but not necessarily dangerous to the majority of people.
What should be a concern is its origins. Indicators are that it came from the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory. While not a bio-weapon, it was more than likely developed as a type of bio-economic weapon. It is designed to sow fear, not kill. Watching Americans meltdown over the weather, it appears it was pretty easy to shut down the economy and send the US into a full-on depression over the fear of a germ.
Another question, did China release the virus on purpose? The history of Communist China shows that they have no problem killing their own. Has anyone heard anything about the Hong Kong protests lately?
This is getting serious. Not the sickness, the destruction of our economy. Businesses cannot go 30 days under this kind of shutdown. Many will never recover from the losses–there will be unemployment, as well as the pain of Capitalist Disruption. Old businesses will die and new ones will struggle to fill the space.
The greatest economy in the history of the world is being murdered because our government officials are too stupid to understand basic math and too cowardly to stand up to media-induced hysteria.
Note: Why aren’t we just quarantining the elderly and those at higher risk? Why are we shutting down our entire economy and struggling, while our politicians continue to pull pay checks and cash out their stocks while simultaneously granting themselves power and taking away our rights?
We need to get a grip on the costs and benefits of this hysteria. I say ignore quarantine. Open up the bars and cafes. Go to the mall. Just get it.
Of the 19,354 currently infected, 100% of the cases are considered mild, and 0% are considered critical.
Let that sink in.
This nonsense has to stop.
The reason nobody in government is urgently responding to the need to rescue the economy and help struggling families whose livelihoods have been destroyed by mandated pandemic panic closings is that nobody in government has stopped getting paid because of the panic closings. The government will always get paid, even when you are unemployed.
Gov. Ralph Northam and State Health Commissioner Norman Oliver issued a public health emergency order banning more than 10 patrons in restaurants, fitness centers, and theaters on Tuesday. This order gives local and state law enforcement the ability to enforce this ban. You can be arrested for hanging out with your blokes.
So, what is really going on? Is this self-induced panic really just a dry run, a massive coordinated drill? In this curious Ted Talk, Bill Gates talks about how the next great threat will not be tanks and bombs, but microbes:
There is a lot at play, and it’s not good. An AAR (After Action Review) needs to analyze what role the media played in generating this false hysteria. MSNBC host and Russian Collusion authority Rachel Maddow actually begged other networks not to air President Trump’s Coronavirus briefings:
Are pandemics serious? Yes. Will people die from COVD-19? Yes, but 7,000 Americans die every day. As Blue Oyster Cult sang, “40,000 men and women every day.” The pandemic really hasn’t changed the daily work of the reaper.
If anything good does come out of this, I think we now understand:
We need to close our borders We need to bring our businesses home. We need to become less dependent on other countries to survive. Be much more skeptical about the promise of globalism. Understand the threat of germ warfare (germ games, like war games). Stop trusting a country that eats bats and baby birds to control all our medicine supply. Throw Socialism in the trash, and fight those continue that carry water for it. Grow a pair, and regain our faith in the free market.
Deborah Bender says
I totally agree with you Wayne! This is the Democrats trying to get control of the people. CIGARETTES kill people every day but the government doesn’t do anything about it because big tobacco gives loads of money.
I am 66 years old and I have never ever experienced anything this stupid!
Great article Wayne!
Now the fighting will begin 😉
Carla Jasper says
Perfect! Thank you. Tragic that people are so blinded by the media. I agree with you about the origins of this virus in China but, people are too frightened to speak up and lets face it, there is a lot of the US economy tied to China. We must disengage from China! Keep diplomatic channels open. Keep American business out of that country.
MJM says
What ? This is a totally sarcastic, and not at all meant to be believed or followed, correct ?
Let me point out why I say that and ask that. It’s based in 3 of the stats listed here. Here they come…of the 19,354 currently infected, 100% of the cases are considered mild, and 0% are considered critical. Hmmm…. Well if none of our cases are considered critical, I wonder why people are dying of this ? It wasn’t critical to the patient that just died ? Seems to be a flippant attitude to me. We have a lot of seniors around here. 35% maybe ? Their lives lack value ? This opinion sounds like a partier who just got kicked off of a Fla. beach from spring break, and just as immature.
Then I go on to read the comments about China killing their own. Yeah, I believe there is little respect for life over there, and killing their own doesn’t bother them. Is that being accepted by the writer as acceptable ? I believe that hiding the danger of this virus and it’s intro to the world is a perfect example of the horrid Chinese attitude in it’s leadership. The fact that the Chinese continue to not permit access to their info regarding this pandemic is as sick as can be. They claim there are no new cases but won’t tell us how that could be ? Is it lies or hiding invaluable remedies ? Or both ? No matter what the case is, I think this writer’s comment is a perfect example of totally irresponsible journalism. While the writer has every right to dislike seeing businesses like mine be ruined and maybe destroyed, while the writer has every right to disagree with what our government says or does, and while I completely understand the frustration and difficulties of getting to the other side of this pandemic, I have to condemn the attitude of the writer that we should ignore our medical leaders and we should all just go expose ourselves to this and tough our way through it. The result would be to overwhelm our abilities to help each other and run our businesses and we would end up with the same seriously struggling economy and a lot more very sick and dead people. We are all better off poor and healthy than poor and sick.
Note: 7 thousand people died yesterday, more will today. The sham virus is not killing anyone that’s not already on the list. How many have died from the virus, or just complications from the virus? 50 of the so-called dead died in one nursing home. Why wasn’t the economy shut down and people forcefully quarantined in 2009/10 when the H1N1 “swine flu infected hundreds of millions and +/- 500k people died. I would laugh at this comment,but too many lives are going to be ruined because of ignorance like this.
Ray Otton says
Something else to consider.
We’re seeing just how much reduction in various freedoms American citizens will accept from government.
I suspect it ain’t much more.
Then what?
Paul Plante says
Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic Socialist governor of the EMPIRE state of New York has literally been transformed into a DICTATOR because of this COVID HYSTERIA that he himself is responsible for whipping up with absolute power to now destroy the lives of millions of people as he is doing with his EDICT to SHELTER IN PLACE, along with civilized society, itself, which he has shut down all around us, to the point of where are the cops, people out in the countryside are saying.
Rule of law is dead, along with our Constitution and HABEAS CORPUS, which Cuomo has simply suspended, along with other basic rights like due process of law and the right to a hearing when the “state” is destroying your right to support your family as Cuomo is doing right now.
And not surprisingly the New York Times, never known as any kind of champion of constitutional rights for the “unwashed masses,” as they think of us country folks from their lofty perch down in New York City, is cheering Cuomo’s dictatorship on in the article “Andrew Cuomo Is the Control Freak We Need Right Now- In ordinary times, Mr. Cuomo’s relentlessness and bullying drive New Yorkers crazy. In the age of the coronavirus, they soothe our battered nerves.” by Ben Smith on March 16, 2020, where the dictator Cuomo was very accurately described thusly:
He governs by transaction, not inspiration, as a dispenser of favors and destroyer of insurgents’ dreams, the purest master of the machine since Lyndon Johnson in his prime.
end quotes
In other words, he is a power-hungry thig who sees himself, along with the simpering New York Times, as a modern-day Augustus Caesar, although many would call him a Caligula, instead, as we see by returning to that gushing puff-piece as follows:
He is drawing on skills that are, more typically, seen pejoratively: The New York Times’s Shane Goldmacher described Mr. Cuomo in 2018 as “a political tactician of almost limitless ambition and extraordinary ability, a leader with jagged edges and little regard for rules, especially if they are standing in the way of the results he wants.”
end quotes
Yes, there is EMPEROR Andy right there – the dude simply does not want any kind of rules to stand in his way, and now in his glory, he has dispensed with not only rules, but the law and Constitution, as well.
So for him, in terms of gaining ABSOLUTE POWER for himself, this COVID HYSTERIA Andy Cuomo has whipped up, along with his media lackeys in the media like the New York Times, has done very well for Andy Cuomo, indeed.
And rule of law in Augustus Caesar Cuomo’s EMPIRE of New York is now DEAD, and not a peep of protest was raised outside of my voice right here!
In a time of crisis, people need a STRONGMAN to comfort them, especially the people of New York City, and once a strongman government has been created, as ours was literally overnight as a result of the COVID HYSTERIA Andy Cuomo himself created to whip up public fear, as the Germans learned back in the 1930s, they are not easily undone.
Paul Galloway says
There will be a baby boom in 9 months. What name are we going to tag on that generation ?
Note: CORONIALS.
Ray Otton says
Scott and Charmin.
MJM says
Yesterday I sent you a reply to your comment, and you didn’t print it. So let’s see if you print this one.
Your article and comment continues to be nothing but totally irresponsible and declare a reckless disregard for human life, and a stated medical emergency from the leaders of this country. That disregard especially includes any elderly relatives you may have, and you should apologize and retract your comment immediately.
Okay, so 7K people die every day and because of that you want to tell us this pandemic won’t create any additional deaths ? No additional deaths matter ? You declare to us all to ignore the odds and challenge the beliefs of the leading Drs. in this country, that we should all just go about our regular routine and tempt fate ? What do you think this is ? The Charge of The Light Brigade ?
YOU SAY my ignorance is going to ruin lives. What is yours gonna do ? Get us all a free lifetime pass to Disney World ? You sound like some drunken college kid that just got kicked off a Fla. beach for your own good whether you like it or not, and you don’t.
You want to know why our country didn’t react the same way for H1N1 back in the day? You don’t know why ? You’re not paying attention are you ? Because all the Drs. told the then current president that we would lose people, but nowhere near as many as we will lose now if we don’t listen to the experts. Because this is a totally different situation. THAT’S WHY.
Apparently you believe that the date of our demise is pre-written and the Grim Reaper already knows when he is going to come for each and every one of us. Including you. For you to be telling us that all we need to do is grow a pair and face that, then you must believe that your day is a long distance off.
Okay, I accept your challenge if you accept mine. I say your ignorance and challenge, if followed, is going to ruin lives. You say mine will, so let’s challenge each other like a couple schoolyard tough guys.
Here’s the deal. You lead the way. GROW A PAIR. You make arrangements with the CDC. I will drive you there and back. You get them to prepare for you a typical dose of this Chinese virus that will give you a proper infection. Put it in a syringe or a Jell-O shooter for all I care. 45 days later, after you self quarantine and seek no medical help, if you are still alive, I will tell everyone I agree with you. Refuse to do so, then you don’t know what growing a pair really means and you are therefore totally F.O.S.
Note: You are an idiot. While you intellectually masturbate, one of the Shore’s largest employers, probably the single largest employer, furloughed 95% of their staff. Those jobs are not coming back, this company will probably close. You moron, yeah let’s murder the economy and destroy the lives of millions just to save the weakest, sickest 1%. This virus has a 100% survival rate for healthy people. How selfish and stupid can you be? Businesses can go for 30 days. 30 days, then they will be crushed by expenses. The local barber can’t cut hair but these degenerates in Congress can meet all day long as A big group and argue how to screw you out of your money. Scum like you want to keep people from working, well you know what, it’s like Good Fellas, now “Fuck You, Pay Me”. You are really stupid, a syringe? A syringe full of vitamin C will kill you. People like you disgust me.
Paul Plante says
MJM, you are hysterical, first off.
Secondly, you seem not to know what country you live in, or what system of government we have with this ridiculous blather of yours about “a stated medical emergency from the leaders of this country.”
What leaders?
Andy Cuomo, who is spreading this COVID HYSTERIA for political gain for himself?
He is NOT a doctor, nor is he a public health professional – he is nothing more than an ignorant ******* lawyer playing at being something he is not, which is someone actually qualified to issue medical opinions on anything.
Donald Trump?
He has a bachelor’s degree in economics.
He is not a doctor nor is he a medical or public health professional, either.
Nancy Pelosi?
Charley “Chuck” Schumer?
Are they who you refer to with your comment about “a stated medical emergency from the leaders of this country?”
As to who we all should be hearing from, this is from the Virginia DEARTMENT OF HEALTH which details the BROKEN SYSTEM of public health protection in this country that is now FAILING us while these HACK ******* POLITICIANS responsible for this COVID HYSTERIA Wayne Creed is right to shine a spotlight on continue to confuse us with BULL**** for political gain for themselves, as Cuomo, who is hysterical himself, besides being ignorant and a thug, to wit:
Public health has a rich tradition in Virginia since colonial times and has been an integral part of local government in this area since the early 1950s.
An example of this is Major Walter Reed MD who was born in Gloucester County and used epidemiology to link the Aedes aegypti mosquito to Yellow Fever at the turn of the last century.
Local public health in Virginia dates back 5 centuries to the early 1600s in response to sanitation needs and contagious disease in the new colonies.
In 1780, the first permanent city board of health in the United States was created in Petersburg, Virginia.
The State Board of Health was created in 1872.
But it wasn’t until the early 20th century that “modern” local health departments began.
The first was Richmond City health department in 1906, followed by Norfolk health department in 1907.
Unfortunately much of rural Virginia did not have access to basic public health services.
Cities continued to have more established, better funded public health services; whereas rural areas had a limited tax base and could not afford to establish more comprehensive public health.
In 1932 the Bureau of Rural Health was created to address this problem.
Those early years were especially concerned with the polio epidemic, persistent tuberculosis and syphilis, and areas of poor sanitation.
In 1954, the General Assembly authorized the creation of cooperative local health departments.
Under this new law, the State would pay its share for a local health department with a local government match based on the value of taxable real estate.
This began today’s statewide system of local public health service.
end quotes
And that system is BROKEN!
And by calling attention to it, Wayne Creed is hardly flippant.
The first rule of PUBLIC HEALTH is DO NOT CREATE PANIC!
That is why the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia through their elected representatives enacted Title 32.1., Chapter 2. Disease Prevention and Control, as part of the Code of Virginia, the LAW these elected officials are supposed to be bound by, so we don’t have FEAR and HYSTERIA and PANIC such as yours being generated by UNQUALIFIED PEOPLE passing themselves off as competent to render medical judgments, to wit:
Chapter 2. Disease Prevention and Control
Article 1. Reporting of Diseases
§ 32.1-35 List and reports of diseases and dangerous microbes and pathogens
§ 32.1-35.1 Information on health care-associated infections
§ 32.1-36Reports by physicians and laboratory directors
§ 32.1-37 Reports by persons other than physicians
Article 2. Investigation of Diseases
§ 32.1-39 Surveillance and investigation
§ 32.1-40 Authority of Commissioner to examine medical records
Article 3. Disease Control Measures
§ 32.1-42Emergency rules and regulations
§ 32.1-42.1 Administration and dispensing of necessary drugs and devices during a declared disaster or state of emergency
§ 32.1-43 Authority of State Health Commissioner to require quarantine, etc.
§ 32.1-44 Isolated or quarantined persons
§ 32.1-45 Expense of treatment
end quotes
Scan the list, MJM, and see where there is any mention of “our leaders” in there.
Then go to Title 12 of the Code of Virginia, Chapter 90. Regulations for Disease Reporting and Control, 12VAC5-90-107. Quarantine, where you will find what should have been done if our PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTION SYSTEM was not BROKEN:
12VAC5-90-107. Quarantine.
A. Application.
The commissioner, in his sole discretion, may invoke the provisions of Article 3.02 (§ 32.1-48.05 et seq.) of Chapter 2 of Title 32.1 of the Code of Virginia and may order a complete or modified quarantine of any individual or individuals upon a determination that:
1. Such individual or individuals are known to have been exposed to or are reasonably suspected to have been exposed to a communicable disease of public health threat;
2. Exceptional circumstances render the procedures of Article 3.01 (§ 32.1-48.01 et seq.) of Chapter 2 of Title 32.1 of the Code of Virginia to be insufficient, or the individual or individuals have failed or refused to comply voluntarily with the control measures directed by the commissioner in response to a communicable disease of public health threat; and
3. Quarantine is the necessary means to contain a communicable disease of public health threat to which an individual or individuals have been or may have been exposed and thus may become infected.
The commissioner, in his sole discretion, may also order the quarantine of an affected area if, in addition to the above, the Governor has declared a state of emergency for such affected area of the Commonwealth.
B. Documentation.
For quarantine for a communicable disease of public health threat, information about the infection or suspected infection; the individual, individuals, and/or affected area; and the nature or suspected nature of the exposure shall be duly recorded by the local health department, in consultation with the Office of Epidemiology.
This information shall be sufficient to enable documenting a record of findings and enable the commissioner to prepare a written order of quarantine, including the information required in § 32.1-48.09 of the Code of Virginia.
In addition, sufficient information on individuals shall be maintained by the local health department to enable appropriate follow-up of individuals for health status evaluation and treatment as well as compliance with the order of quarantine.
The commissioner shall ensure that the protected health information of any individual or individuals subject to the order of quarantine is disclosed only in compliance with state and federal law.
C. Means of quarantine.
The local health department shall assess the situation, and in consultation with the Office of Epidemiology, shall recommend to the commissioner the least restrictive means of quarantine that effectively protects unexposed and susceptible individuals.
The place of quarantine selected shall allow the most freedom of movement and communication with family members and other contacts without allowing disease transmission to others.
The commissioner, in his sole discretion, may order the quarantined individual or individuals to remain in their residences, to remain in another place where they are present, or to report to a place or places designated by the commissioner for the duration of their quarantine.
The commissioner’s order of quarantine shall be for a duration consistent with the known incubation period of the communicable disease of public health threat or, if the incubation period is unknown or uncertain, for a period anticipated as being consistent with the incubation period for other similar infectious agents.
In the situation where an area is under quarantine, the duration of quarantine shall take into account the transmission characteristics and known or suspected incubation period.
D. Delivery.
The local health department shall deliver the order of quarantine, or ensure its delivery by an appropriate party such as a law-enforcement officer or health department employee, to the affected individual or individuals in person to the extent practicable.
If, in the opinion of the commissioner, the scope of the notification would exceed the capacity of the local health department to ensure notification in a timely manner, then print, radio, television, Internet, and/or other available means shall be used to inform those affected.
E. Enforcement.
Upon finding that there is probable cause to believe that any individual or individuals who are subject to an order of quarantine may fail or refuse to comply with such order, the commissioner in his sole discretion may include in the order a requirement that such individual or individuals are to be taken immediately into custody by law-enforcement agencies and detained for the duration of the order of quarantine or until the commissioner determines that the risk of and from noncompliance is no longer present.
For any individual or individuals identified as, or for whom probable cause exists that he may be, in violation of any order of quarantine, or for whom probable cause exists that he may fail or refuse to comply with any such order, the enforcement authority directed by the commissioner to law-enforcement agencies shall include but need not be limited to the power to detain or arrest.
Any individual or individuals so detained shall be held in the least restrictive environment that can provide any required health care or other services for such individual.
The commissioner shall ensure that law-enforcement personnel responsible for enforcing an order or orders of quarantine are informed of appropriate measures to take to protect themselves from contracting the disease of public health threat.
F. Health status monitoring.
The local health department shall monitor the health of those under quarantine either by regular telephone calls, visits, self-reports, or by reports of caregivers or healthcare providers or by other means.
If an individual or individuals develop symptoms compatible with the communicable disease of public health threat, then 12VAC5-90-103 would apply to the individual or individuals.
G. Essential needs.
Upon issuance of an order of quarantine to an individual or individuals by the commissioner, the local health department shall manage the quarantine, in conjunction with local emergency management resources, such that individual essential needs can be met to the extent practicable.
Upon issuance of an order of quarantine by the commissioner for an affected area, existing emergency protocols pursuant to Chapter 3.2 (§ 44-146.13 et seq.) of Title 44 of the Code of Virginia shall be utilized for mobilizing appropriate resources to ensure essential needs are met.
H. Appeals.
Any individual or individuals subject to an order of quarantine or a court-ordered confirmation or extension of any such order may file an appeal of the order of quarantine in accordance with the provisions of § 32.1-48.10 of the Code of Virginia.
An appeal shall not stay any order of quarantine.
I. Release from quarantine.
Once the commissioner determines that an individual or individuals are no longer at risk of becoming infected and pose no risk of transmitting the communicable disease of public health threat to other individuals, the order of quarantine has expired, or the order of quarantine has been vacated by the court, the individuals under the order of quarantine shall be released immediately.
If the risk of an individual becoming infected and transmitting the communicable disease of public health threat to other individuals continues to exist, an order of quarantine may be developed to extend the restriction prior to release from quarantine.
J. Affected area.
If the criteria in subsection A of this section are met and an area is known or suspected to have been affected, then the commissioner shall notify the Governor of the situation and the need to order quarantine for the affected area.
In order for an affected area to be quarantined, the Governor must declare a state of emergency for the affected area.
If an order of quarantine is issued for an affected area, the commissioner shall cause the order of quarantine to be communicated to the individuals residing or located in the affected area.
The use of multiple forms of communication, including but not limited to radio, television, Internet, and/or other available means, may be required in order to reach the individuals who were in the affected area during the known or suspected time of exposure.
The provisions for documentation, means of quarantine, enforcement, health status monitoring, essential needs, and release from quarantine described above will apply to the quarantine of affected areas.
Appropriate management of a disease of public health threat for an affected area may require the coordinated use of local, regional, state, and national resources.
In specifying one or more affected areas to be placed under quarantine, the objective will be to protect as many people as possible using the least restrictive means.
As a result, defining the precise boundaries and time frame of the exposure may not be possible, or may change as additional information becomes available.
When this occurs, the commissioner shall ensure that the description of the affected area is in congruence with the Governor’s declaration of emergency and shall ensure that the latest information is communicated to those in or exposed to the affected area.
Statutory Authority
§ 32.1-35 of the Code of Virginia.
end quotes
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, WAYNE CREED, OF FIGHTING THIS HYSTERIA CREATED BY THESE POLITICIANS FOR THEIR POLITICAL GAIN WITH FACTS!
– signed, a qualified Associate Level Public Health Engineer who is totally disgusted with how this COVID SCARE is being handled in this country, which acts like it were Haiti instead of America.
And if anyone is interested in exactly how our system of public health protection in this country became so broken, refer to the Cape Charles Mirror thread Op-Ed: Should Sonia Sotomayor resign in disgrace? on January 14, 2018 http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/op-ed-should-sonia-sotomayor-resign-in-disgrace/#comment-77384
MJM says
The list gets longer every day Paul as to the amount of infected people we have here in America, and of course how many are all around the world. U.S. cases over 46K s I watch the t.v. now on 3/24 at 9 a.m.
I have absolutely no idea why you would think my comments are hysterical. It is precise and to the point and a challenge to Mr. Creed that he could not accept, because there is no basis for his opinion other than his emotion. His response to my challenge was emotional and simply proved he is perfectly willing to throw anyone under the bus but himself.
We need to create a defense for this disease before we can challenge it head on. That is what Pres. trump and his advisors are telling us all.
It sounds to me as though you do not understand how management works. No president of any organization, has an organization for no reason at all. Just because Pres. Trump has a degree in economics, does not mean he cannot verbally deliver valuable and accurate medical decisions to the country. He sits down with his experts from the CDC, the NIH and other such medical organizations and creates a policy in agreement with them. No one in charge of such a large organization like the U.S.A. can possibly have a P.H.D. in every discipline. Surely you must realize that.
I’ll tell you one thing, I certainly agree with you that the very first rule should be that no one creates any panic. That is why I say take no drastic measures. Follow the program as best we can and let’s get to the other side of this.
In saying that I have to continue by saying that when rogues break free from the President and Congress and Governors and start telling everyone to charge into the valley of death because we can beat the odds, I think THAT is panic and a reckless disregard for human life. Is it not ? And you are promoting that. You are lauding Mr. Creed for his contrary opinion.
In closing I am also going to say that I understand your complaint that the health system is broken and can break down in many ways at many stages and we all have every right to wish better for ourselves esp. at a time like this. I just think that pushing this opinion into everyone’s mindset right now creates panic and I don’t know why you would make one statement that it shouldn’t be done and then you go right ahead and do it. I don’t think this is the time and place.
Oh, and by the way, Mr. Creed is still picking and choosing what is put on the site. I never curse and never say the rude things he says, but when I responded to his outburst, he again did not print my response.
Note: Will you ever just shut up? As a note, only 2/3 of all comments make it in. Wayne Creed makes the editorial decision, not you. Even Mr. Plante has comments rejected, only he takes it like a man. As far as your stupid ‘challenge’, it won’t work. 1) CDC will never willing infect someone 2) I have already had contact, been mildly sick, quarantined, and kicked. Also, in defense of the word ‘FUCK’, here is a special History Note: Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger, it would be impossible to draw the English longbow; and therefore, they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as ‘plucking the yew’ (or ‘pluck yew’).
The English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, “See, we can still pluck yew!” Since ‘pluck yew’ is hard to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labio-dentals fricative F’, and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute. Now go away.
A friend says
Wayne,
How about linking audio of Blue Oyster Cult – (Don’t Fear) The Reaper to accompany this thread. Might keep her away!
Paul Plante says
Yes, many of my comments, maybe even thousands of them, for whatever reason, never see the light of day.
Such it is.
As to yourself, MJM, I said you were hysterical precisely because in reading your attack of Wayne Creed, and attack it was, based on emotion on your part, you sounded hysterical, i.e., deriving from or affected by uncontrolled extreme emotion, in your case, thinking we are all going to die of COVID, which quite frankly is a ridiculous and hysterical thought on your part.
Are people going to die of COVID?
Most likely, because it is a DISEASE that preys on humans and takes away the weak, and no where did I see Wayne Creed writing off those people.
To the contrary, like myself, he was accepting the fact that in America, people are dying all the time, because dying is a natural part of living, and he is asking the existential question of how many of those people will be saved by turning OUR nation into a POLICE STATE while the lives of millions and the fabric of our very society are destroyed.
And as a public health official who understands MANAGEMENT in a time of PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS very well, and far better than Donald Trump, who does not give me any kind of medical advice that I would listen to (see the article “President, Fauci spar over unproven drug” by Ricardo Alonso-Cortez, Associated Press), because he is not qualified to, and as a grandfather, I sincerely hope that Wayne Creed will get ahold of one of those new-fangled, hi-tech 10,000 horsepower clam rakes they have come up with, and I hope he rakes the muck here until he gets all the way down to bedrock, and by that I mean I sincerely hope he will drag out into the light of day by the scruff of its neck all the rot in the PUBLIC HEALTH system in Virginia that allowed this PANIC and HYSTERIA to set in, which in return has triggered a MUCH-NEEDED RESPONSE from Wayne Creed calling for public disobedience, which is the OUTCOME when FREE PEOPLE are stripped of RULE OF LAW, which has been the case here, even if you are unable to see it in your fear.
It is you who obviously has no clue whatsoever as to how MANAGEMENT OF THE PUBLIC’S HEALTH is conducted, and Donald Trump has no part to play in that whatsover, because protecting the public health is part of the POLICE POWER of the state that was never relinquished.
And here I am not talking about the HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY, which is an entirely different system that exists to exploit sickness for profit.
Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities.
This work is achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases.
That is supposed to be 24/7/365, if the system was not broken as it clearly is today, and here I would like to see Wayne Creed confronting the Board of Health and the Commissioner, assuming there even is one in Virginia, to find out why the law was not followed and how this COCK-UP was allowed to happen.
RAKE THAT MUCK, Wayne Creed?
According to the American Public Health Association as to the question “what is public health,” besides a broken system in this country, we have:
Public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work and play.
While a doctor treats people who are sick, those of us working in public health try to prevent people from getting sick or injured in the first place.
We also promote wellness by encouraging healthy behaviors.
From conducting scientific research to educating about health, people in the field of public health work to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy.
end quotes
As to what the purpose of a public health engineer like myself would be in the system, if the system were not hopelessly corrupt, which you want a lid kept on, while I want it ripped clean off to expose this rot in the system now, when it is the proper time to expose it, and not tomarrow, when we’re back to dying because of climate change as opposed to COVID.
As to my use of the term “public health engineer,” I am using the definition from Title 10 of the New York State Public Health Regulations, Part 11 – Qualifications of Public Health Personnel, Section 11.100 – Public health engineer, to wit:
PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEER
11.100 Definition.
The term public health engineer shall mean a person who applies engineering principles for the detection, evaluation, control and management of those factors in the environment which influence the public’s health.
end quotes
Those factors in the environment which influence the public’s health are bacteria and viruses and the DUTY of the public health engineer is to prevent their spread.
Donald Trump has no role to play in that, at all, outside of providing support if and when requested.
As an associate level public health engineer, I was personally responsible for the MANAGEMENT of the health of some 133,000 people in a health district in New York state.
Donald Trump had no role to play in that management, nor would he have had a voice in how I was performing my duties, given that as a health officer, I reported to the Commissioner of Health of New York, a medical doctor.
My responsibilities included responsibility the planning, directions and supervision of the environmental health programs of the county health department.
So you can see how a proper public health protection system that was not corrupt or broken would look on paper, my work as an associate public health engineer involved providing advice and guidance to local officials and the general public in regard to environmental health problems related to transmission of diseases, and the measures necessary for improvements and compliance with legal requirements.
Donald Trump had absolutely no role to play in that, whatsoever, because he is not qualified to perform the duties of an associate level public health engineer.
It was my responsibility, not Donald Trump’s, to provide leadership in the promotion of public health through the application of environmental health practices, like not siting unregulated regional garbage transfer stations in established residential neighborhoods near a public school as our “leader” Andy Cuomo has done in the Town of Poestenkill, County of Rensselaer, State of New York in complete disregard for the health and safety of the elderly residents of that community and those children, as well.
In addition, my responsibility also included enforcement of the provisions of the Public Health Law and State Sanitary Code in relation to environmental health matters.
Violation of the Public Health Law is a class A misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail, and I was not at all squeamish about using that power of arrest to protect the health of the public in my health district.
As to the broad scope of my duties, they included supervising enforcement of the provisions of the Public health Law relating to air pollution, x-ray installations, public water supplies, sewerage and wastes disposal, operation of water and sewage treatment plants, swimming pools and bathing beaches, camps, hotels, lodging and boarding houses, restaurants and public eating places, stream pollution, realty subdivisions, qualifications of water and sewage treatment plant operators, public health nuisances and related matters, all related to keeping people safe from bacteria and viruses.
In that regard, it was my duty to make environmental health investigations of outbreaks of disease like COVID, and to perform that duty, I maintained relationships with local, state and federal agencies whose work or policies affect the public health program.
It was also my duty to prepare technical reports including recommendations, and to formulate public health engineering and environmental health policies to prevent the spread of a disease like COVID.
To be an associate level public health engineer, one must possess comprehensive knowledge of the principles, techniques and administration of public health engineering and environmental health programs as related to air pollution, x-ray installations, water supplies and purification, sewerage and sewage disposal, stream pollution, sanitary control of foods, sanitary control of restaurants and public eating places, smoke abatement, sanitary control of camps, hotels, lodging houses, boarding houses, swimming pools, bathing beaches, schools and other places, insect and rodent control, housing, public health nuisances and general sanitation; thorough knowledge of provisions of Public Health Law and State Sanitary Code related to the above subjects; ability to plan, develop, direct, and administer public health engineering and environmental health programs and to project and integrate these into the departmental program; ability to prepare technical reports and correspondence; skill in public health engineering techniques and practices; high degree of initiative and resourcefulness in solving difficult public health engineering problems; ability to deal with the public and other officials; ability to develop and maintain good public relations; and professional judgement.
So, yes, MJM, I do understand MANAGEMENT when it comes to issues of public health like COVID.
tokenny says
Wayne, nice story on the origin of the word, however it’s wrong. It’s actually from a Germanic origin and the middle finger is actually from ancient Greece
Note: Cognates in other Germanic languages, such as German ficken, have been translated as in to have sexual intercourse. However, the origin of “Fuck You” combined with the Bronx salute, dates to Agincourt. But, like most etymology, there are multiple origins for just Fuck… “ where the bee sucks there suck I” , and, well you get it.
Paul Plante says
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the so-called “English” were Angles, Saxons and Jutes, n’est-ce-pas?
They are all Germanic.
George I was a German and the first Hanoverian king of Great Britain.
So except for those who might be Danes, or Norse, or Swerd, the English are really German.
So thank you, tokenny, for bringing all of that very interesting history to our attention, and what an exciting time it was, what with the Great Heathen Army and all.
And if one studies the Conquest, the Battle of Hastings in 1066, long before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, one would conclude that it was the Normans, and not the English, who had the bows and used them to effect, to wit:
Although spears could be thrown when necessary, the main projectile weapon of the Norman army was the bow and arrow, used for long-range fighting and to keep the enemy from engaging in hand-to-hand combat.
The Bayeux Tapestry shows Duke William’s archer infantry, their quivers either slung over their shoulders or hung from the waist, playing an important part in the battle.
They appear to be shooting bows somewhat shorter than a six-foot longbow, but there is no evidence to prove whether the Norman bow was short or long for none survives.
They appear to be drawing their bows not to the ear but to the body only.
The archers were a very important part of Duke William’s army and played perhaps the most decisive part in the battle.
Certainly, the bow had an enduring place in the Anglo-Norman army.
After Hastings the bow seems to have been used almost exclusively as an infantry weapon but the Bayeux Tapestry attests to the fact that it could occasionally be used by mounted troops for pursuit of a fleeing enemy.
– From Weapons the Normans used in The Battle of Hastings, British Heritage Travel Staff | @BH__Travel Jan 24, 2020
Again, tokenny, thanks for sharing.
Paul Plante says
In the U.S. as of yesterday, there were 26,747 diagnosed COVID-19 cases and 340 deaths out of a population of 330 MILLION, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.
There were 20,000 cases in the unhealthy ****hole of New York City out of a population of 9 MILLION.
Globally, out of a population of 7.8 billion people, there are now 315,992 cases with at least 13,589 deaths, but more than 94,176 people have recovered.
Of the roughly 150,000 people who die each day across the globe, about two thirds — 100,000 per day — die of age-related causes.
Meanwhile, checking vital statistics for the pestilential ****hole of New York City, in 2010, there were 52,575 reported deaths from other than COVID …
And according to the CDC:
NY Leading Causes of Death, 2017
1. Heart Disease 44,092
2. Cancer 34,956
3. Accidents 7,687
4. Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases 7,258
5. Stroke 6,264
6. Flu/Pneumonia 4,517
7. Diabetes 4,176
8. Alzheimer’s disease 3,521
9. Hypertension 2,699
10. Septicemia 2,296
New York Mortality Data
Firearm Deaths 772
Homicide 577
Drug Overdose Deaths 3,921
Speaking as a public health engineer in here, might we have our priorities more than a little ******-up with this CUOMO COVID HYSTERIA?
Paul Plante says
Bill Gates on Trump call for quick end to lockdown: “It’s tough to tell people ‘keep going to restaurants, go buy new houses, ignore that pile of bodies over in the corner.’”
Now there is another real A-HOLE like Andy Cuomo of New York spreading more hysteria,
I haven’t seen any piles of bodies over in the corner anywhere.
Has anyone?
Sounds like Bill Gates is more than a bit hyperbolic and frankly, looney, with a statement like that, as if the COVID were really the Bubonic Plague and people were dying in droves instead of dribbles.
Get a grip, Bill, before you totally lose your marbles, dude,
And now that Andy Cuomo has created FEAR and HYSTERIA in the corrupt third-world ****hole of New York, and as this CUOMO COVID HYSTERIA sweeps the nation and makes people bat**** crazy, this is the result:
The New York Department of Health is now asking mental health professionals to contact the state if they are willing to participate in a soon-to-launch, online Mental Health Electronic Help Center.
They can contact the state here: health.ny.gov/assistance .
end quotes
Andy’s hysteria-mongering for political gain for himself as he positions himself to be the Democrat challenger to Trump in November is now causing a mental health crisis in New York, which is why the first rule of public health is to not create panics, while the first rule of politics is to manufacture a crisis and then milk that puppy for all it is worth, and in COVID, Andy Cuomo has found his Reichstag Fire that has allowed him to suspend our rights as American citizens as he turns the corrupt ****hole into a virtual police state.
Paul Plante says
26 March 2020
Dr. Howard Zucker MD, JD, LLM
Commissioner of Health
State of New York
Corning Tower Building,
Empire State Plaza
Albany, New York 12237
Phone: 518-474-2011 Fax: 518-474-5450
RE: The Cuomo Covid-19 Public Health Scare
Dear Health Commissioner Zucker:
I am writing to you not only as a citizen of the state of New York, but as a grandfather, because we put protection of the future before ourselves as grandparents, and as an over-70 disabled Viet Nam veteran who is in the at-risk COVID group who is quite concerned that you denied my caregiver, who is dear to me and irreplaceable in terms of a bond of trust, the colonoscopy she needs to determine if she might have colon cancer, and as the associate public health engineer who in 1988 was commended in writing by then state Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod for my efforts as a public health engineer to root out endemic corruption in the environmental health division of the Rensselaer County Health Department, Dr. Axelrod’s “Great Dream” that never got realized due to his untimely death, as well as my disabling as a result of a back-hoe assault that nearly decapitated me, which health department was described thusly by Dr. Axelrod in a March 27, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concerning federal Hobbs Act investigation of corruption in the Rensselaer County (State of New York) Department of Health, to wit:
“According to respondent, the results of the State’s investigation were that New York State laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, Rensselaer County laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, and there was very little ‘enforcement activity’ even in the face of illegal sales.”
“Respondent advised that the Rensselaer County Health Department’s oversight of realty subdivisions in that county is ‘unsatisfactory’!”
“Respondent also faulted the State of New York Health Department for not auditing Rensselaer County’s program.”
“Respondent advised that he would not expect to find a worse county in the region (the Capital District region which comprises 17 counties)!”
“According to Respondent, the object of any county health department is to protect the public and not to facilitate development.”
“In the case of Rensselaer County, it appears that the Rensselaer County Health Department was in business to facilitate developers and development rather than to protect the public.”
end quotes
That history is relevant in this instant matter because in the midst of the fear and hysteria that are the results of this public health scare created by Andrew Cuomo for apparent political gain for himself at the expense of the lives and livelihoods of the people of upstate New York, and especially Rensselaer County, instead of getting straight answers about the Cuomo Public Health Crisis he has declared from a real, certified medical doctor appointed by the state health commissioner to act as Rensselaer County Health Commissioner pursuant to our charter, we instead have someone named James Gordon, a political appointee who is the county director of central services, who is not at all qualified to serve as a medical doctor in the state of New York, having no medical or public health experience and only a bachelor’s degree in administration, but whom apparently has been commissioned by yourself as state health commissioner regardless of his lack of qualifications to act in the capacity of a medical doctor in Rensselaer County for the duration of this Cuomo Public Health Crisis, which manufactured public health crisis by governor Cuomo for political gain for himself, can clearly be seen in the Mount Pleasant Daily Voice article “COVID-19: ‘I Believe It’s Going To Be Months, But We’re Going To Get Through It,’ Cuomo Says” by Joe Lombardi on 03/22/2020, to wit:
With New York the epicenter of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States, Gov. Andrew Cuomo predicted no less than 40 percent of those in the state will eventually be infected by the virus and said the battle to slow the spread will likely take months.
end quotes
Forty percent, Dr. Zucker?
In 2018, the population of New York was 19.54 million.
Taking Gover Cuomo at his word that forty percent of the people of the state of New York are going to be infected with COVID-19, and doing some math here, Governor Cuomo is telling the people of the State of New York that SEVEN MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED SIXTEEN THOUSAND (7,816.000) people in New York state are going to be infected by COVID-19, and that has caused a panic.
Compare that forty percent number that Governor Cuomo is putting out as part of his scare campaign with what we know of Italy, the most hard-hit European country with a population of 60.48 million in 2018.
According to the news as of this morning, Italy has 74,386 Cases and 7,503 Deaths.
If forty percent of the people of Italy has been infected, that would have been 24,192,000.
One percent of the population of Italy being infected by COVID-19 would have been 604,800 people, and as of this morning, in the worst hit country in Europe only 74,386 have been infected.
So what is really going on here, Mr. Commissioner, with Governor Cuomo inciting fear, paranoia and hysteria in the populace with this wild, sensationalist claim of his that FORTY PERCENT of the people in New York state are going to be infected?
Where, Mr. Commissioner, is Governor Cuomo getting the 40 percent figure from?
Is that a number that you supplied him with as New York State Health Commissioner pursuant to New York State Public Health Law § 203, to wit: The commissioner shall be a physician, a graduate of an incorporated medical college, of at least ten years’ experience in the actual practice of his profession, and of skill and experience in public health duties and sanitary science; and § 206, to wit: The commissioner shall: (a) take cognizance of the interests of health and life of the people of the state, and of all matters pertaining thereto and exercise the functions, powers and duties of the department prescribed by law; exercise general supervision over the work of all local boards of health and health officers, unless otherwise provided by law; investigate the causes of disease, epidemics, the sources of mortality, and the effect of localities, employments and other conditions, upon the public health; and enforce the public health law and the sanitary code?
If so, then WHY are forty percent of the people of New York going to be infected by COVID-19, when in a country like Italy, the percentage is less than one percent, given that in its web site under Mission, Vision, Values, we are told under Mission that “We protect, improve and promote the health, productivity and well-being of all New Yorkers,” and under Vision, we are told “New Yorkers will be the healthiest people in the world – living in communities that promote health, protected from health threats, and having access to quality, evidence-based, cost-effective health services?”
If that is true, then why will there be more infected people in New York than in Italy, a country with a third-rate public health protection system?
And what about Rensselaer County?
Are forty percent of the population going to now be infected with COVID-19, which would be some 61,600 people?
According to the 2010 census, in the county, the population was spread out with 24.20% under the age of 18, 10.10% from 18 to 24, 29.10% from 25 to 44, 23.00% from 45 to 64, and 13.60% who were 65 years of age or older, which is approximately 21,760 people in the at-risk category for COVID-19.
So you can clearly see the fear that governor Cuomo is instilling in the older at-risk population in Rensselaer County with his claim that forty percent of us will be infected with COVID-19.
If that claim of forty percent by the governor is not true, what steps are you taking as Health Commissioner to still the panic the governor is creating?
And if the claim of forty percent is true, then why have you detailed somebody obviously not qualified to act as the Health Commissioner in this county?
Thanking you in advance for your prompt response to this inquiry, I remain
Paul R. Plante, PE
Paul Plante says
What follows is an essay of mine as a public health engineer that was sent this morning to the Albany, New York Times Union, a Hearst publication that fairly gushes with simpering praise for Democratic Socialist governor of New York Andy Cuomo, as well as the New York Times, which rag also gushes with praise for how manly Cuomo is as he leads single-handedly this WAR AGAINST THE INVISIBLE ENEMY, and the New York Post, as well as Dr. Howard Zucker MD, JD, LLM, Commissioner of Health of New York state in response to a story in the Albany Times Union entitled “Churchill: This is Andrew Cuomo’s finest moment – New York’s governor has been the nation’s most authoritative voice during the pandemic.” by Chris Churchill @chris_churchill on March 22, 2020, where he gushed forth with simpering praise for Cuomo, as follows:
ALBANY — Those of us who live in and around Albany are more aware of Andrew Cuomo’s faults and foibles than most New Yorkers.
But in recent days, as the COVID-19 pandemic has grown to impact most every aspect of our lives, we’ve been watching a different Cuomo than the governor we’ve known.
Who is this guy?
It’s like he was born for this.
Cuomo’s is a voice America is listening to during this crisis, with his daily briefings from the Capitol airing nationally, even on Fox News.
Suddenly, Cuomo might be the nation’s most popular Democrat, with his leadership getting rave reviews even from former critics.
In part, Cuomo’s in the spotlight because New York is the epicenter of the epidemic, with more confirmed COVID-19 cases than any other state.
Manhattan also happens to be the nation’s media capital.
But it’s not just that.
Cuomo is being listened to because he deserves to be heard.
While the information flowing out of the White House has been muddled and unserious, if not ridiculous and irresponsible, Cuomo is bluntly delivering truths we need to hear.
end quotes
Which statement is factually false and quite dangerous to those who don’t know better, to wit:
“ON OUR FOURTH-RATE, THIRD-WORLD PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTION SYSTEM IN AMERICA”
As of Thursday afternoon, 26 March 2020, the United States with a population of 327.2 million in 2018 was reporting more than 82,400 cases of COVID-19, above China’s tally of more than 81,700, with China having a population of 1.386 billion as of 2017, and Italy’s count of more than 80,500, with Italy having a population of 60.48 million in 2018, and there should be no mystery as to why that is happening, because compared to China and Italy, the United States of America, and especially New York state, has a broken, slip-shod, fourth-rate public health protection system that one would expect to find in such third-world countries as Haiti, or Somalia, or Iraq, or Afghanistan.
And when I speak of public health, I am not speaking of what is known in America as the “for-profit healthcare industry,” an industry that exploits the sickness and un-wellness and un-healthfulness of Americans to the tune of $3.65 trillion in 2018.
For the for-profit corporate healthcare industry to make its profits, it needs sick people to feed off of, plain and simple.
And since it is for profit, it does not deal with making people well, because there is no profit for them to make in people who are well.
Thus, for that industry to grow as it had up into a $3.65 trillion industry in 2018, it was necessary to dismantle and disable and discard our system of public health protection that was supposed to protect and promote the health of people, not exploit them in their sickness for profit.
Contrary to “healthcare,” or the exploitation of sickness for profit, which is obscene, but so American, nonetheless, public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities.
That is why public health is seen as the “enemy” to be suppressed and defeated by the for-profit corporate healthcare industry, which sector spent a record $594 million on lobbying the federal government last year, up nearly 5 percent from 2018, where “lobbying” is a polite term for bribery.
That is why we have a third-world, fourth-rate public health maintenance system in this country, and that is why we now surpass China and Italy in COVID cases, because our system of keeping people healthy is broken, while the for-profit health care industry that exploits sick people for profit isn’t designed to deal with making a mass of sick people well.
Getting back to the broken public health system in America, this work of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities is supposed to be achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases.
And that is supposed to be 24/7/365, if the system was not broken as it clearly is today.
According to the American Public Health Association as to the question “what is public health,” besides a broken system in this country, we have:
Public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work and play.
While a doctor treats people who are sick, those of us working in public health try to prevent people from getting sick or injured in the first place.
We also promote wellness by encouraging healthy behaviors.
From conducting scientific research to educating about health, people in the field of public health work to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy.
end quotes
Were that anything more than wishful thinking, we would not be having this COVID health scare crisis right now because we would have had a system in place to deal with it in a rational manner, as opposed to this circus we are now confronted with, with scared and hysterical and totally unqualified “public officials” running around like chickens with their heads cut off, screaming at each other about who is responsible for the failure of our public health system, when in fact they all are, with New York state governor Andrew Cuomo, who personally dismantled New York’s public health system along with his father Mario, governor of New York before him, at the head of that list.
As to what the purpose of a public health engineer like myself would be in the system, if the system were not hopelessly corrupt and broken, first of all, my use of the term “public health engineer” comes from the definition of the term from Title 10 of the New York State Public Health Regulations, Part 11 – Qualifications of Public Health Personnel, Section 11.100 – Public health engineer, to wit:
PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEER
11.100 Definition.
The term public health engineer shall mean a person who applies engineering principles for the detection, evaluation, control and management of those factors in the environment which influence the public’s health.
end quotes
Those factors in the environment which influence the public’s health are bacteria and viruses and the DUTY of the public health engineer in a non-broken, non-corrupt, fully-functioning system of public health intended to protect and promote public health is to prevent their spread.
As an associate level public health engineer, I was personally responsible for the MANAGEMENT of the health of some 133,000 people in a health district in New York state.
My responsibilities included responsibility the planning, directions and supervision of the environmental health programs of the county health department.
So you can see how a proper public health protection system that was not corrupt or broken would look on paper, my work as an associate public health engineer involved providing advice and guidance to local officials and the general public in regard to environmental health problems related to transmission of diseases, and the measures necessary for improvements and compliance with legal requirements.
It was my responsibility as an associate public health engineer to provide leadership in the promotion of public health through the application of environmental health practices.
In addition, my responsibility also included enforcement of the provisions of the Public Health Law and State Sanitary Code in relation to environmental health matters.
For the record, violation of the Public Health Law in New York State is listed as a class A misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail.
As to the broad scope of my duties, they included supervising enforcement of the provisions of the Public health Law relating to air pollution, x-ray installations, public water supplies, sewerage and wastes disposal, operation of water and sewage treatment plants, swimming pools and bathing beaches, camps, hotels, lodging and boarding houses, restaurants and public eating places, stream pollution, realty subdivisions, qualifications of water and sewage treatment plant operators, public health nuisances and related matters, all related to keeping people safe from bacteria and viruses.
In that regard, it was my duty to make environmental health investigations of outbreaks of disease like COVID, and to perform that duty, I maintained relationships with local, state and federal agencies whose work or policies affect the public health program.
It was also my duty to prepare technical reports including recommendations, and to formulate public health engineering and environmental health policies to prevent the spread of a disease like COVID.
To be an associate level public health engineer, one must possess comprehensive knowledge of the principles, techniques and administration of public health engineering and environmental health programs as related to air pollution, x-ray installations, water supplies and purification, sewerage and sewage disposal, stream pollution, sanitary control of foods, sanitary control of restaurants and public eating places, smoke abatement, sanitary control of camps, hotels, lodging houses, boarding houses, swimming pools, bathing beaches, schools and other places, insect and rodent control, housing, public health nuisances and general sanitation; thorough knowledge of provisions of Public Health Law and State Sanitary Code related to the above subjects; ability to plan, develop, direct, and administer public health engineering and environmental health programs and to project and integrate these into the departmental program; ability to prepare technical reports and correspondence; skill in public health engineering techniques and practices; high degree of initiative and resourcefulness in solving difficult public health engineering problems; ability to deal with the public and other officials; ability to develop and maintain good public relations; and professional judgement.
So, given all of that, why do we now have this public health crisis linked to COVID in this country with its epicenter in New York state?
Paul Plante says
So, okay, people, forget all the speculating we have been doing in here, the grim news is now officially out – by the time this COVID CRISIS is finally over, and the dying is done, and the crying, and the funerals are finally over, 200,000 people out of our population of 327.2 million in 2018 are going to be dead because of COVID, which .06 percent of our population, and that is not me or Wayne Creed coming up with that number to scare people with or freak them or to spread fear and hysteria – to the contrary, that is the number given us by Dr. Fauci of the CDC, a real medical professional who is not a hack lawyer like Andy Cuomo of New York or a real estate salesman.
And 25% of them are going to be in New York City which (scratch scratch scratch doing some math here) which is 50,000 souls.
In the meantime, from “What are the leading causes of death in the US?” Medically reviewed by Vincent J. Tavella, DVM, MPH on July 4, 2019 and written by Hannah Nichols, they are:
* Heart disease
* Cancer
* Unintentional injuries
* Chronic lower respiratory disease
* Stroke and cerebrovascular diseases
* Alzheimer’s disease
* Diabetes
* Influenza and pneumonia
* Kidney disease
* Suicide
Around 74% of all deaths in the United States occur as a result of 10 causes.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 2,813,503 registered deaths in the United States in 2017.
end quotes
So, okay, people, 200,000 of us are going to die of COVID and be mourned by a grieving nation, while some 2,813,503 of us are going to die of more mundane and politically unexciting things as cancer, and we won’t even be missed!
Looking at that list, we have the following statistics to ponder, to wit:
1. Heart disease
Deaths in 2017: 647,457
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women.
end quotes
So, okay, 200,000 from COVID, 647,457 from heart disease, but really, who’s counting?
And who gives a damn about people dying of heart disease, anyway?
It’s not sexy like COVID is and how is Andy Cuomo going to get into the White House by claiming he licked heart disease?
IT’S ALL ABOUT COVID, people – **** all these other people dying of the common stuff – who needs them around anyway?
Getting back to the common stuff people die of, we have next on the list as follow:
2. Cancer
Deaths in 2017: 599,108
The American Cancer Society estimate how many people will die from certain types of cancer in 2019.
According to them, the leading causes of death from cancer for males will be:
Lung and bronchus cancer: 76,650 deaths
Prostate cancer: 31,620 deaths
Colorectal cancer: 27,640 deaths
The leading causes of death from cancer for females will be:
Lung and bronchus cancer: 66,020 deaths
Breast cancer: 41,760 deaths
Colorectal cancer: 23,380 deaths
end quotes
But let’s face it, in the world of the CUOMO COVID CRISIS today, cancer is so passe!
Moving right along we have:
3. Unintentional injuries
Deaths in 2017: 169,936
4. Chronic lower respiratory disease
Deaths in 2017: 160,201
Chronic lower respiratory disease refers to a group of lung conditions that block the airflow and cause breathing-related issues.
These diseases include:
*chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
*bronchitis
*emphysema
*asthma
5. Stroke and cerebrovascular diseases
Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S.
Deaths in 2017: 146,383
Every year, more than 795,000 people in the U.S. have a stroke.
6. Alzheimer’s disease
Deaths in 2017: 121,404
Percentage of total deaths: 4.3%
In the U.S., an estimated 5.8 million people currently have Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
This figure may rise to 14 million people by 2050 as life expectancy continues to increase.
7. Diabetes
Deaths in 2017: 83,564
8. Influenza and pneumonia
Deaths in 2017: 55,672
Influenza, or flu, is a highly contagious viral infection.
It is one of the most severe illnesses of the winter season.
Flu spreads easily from person to person, usually when someone who carries the virus coughs or sneezes.
A person can have the flu more than once, as many different strains of the virus can cause infection.
They may belong to one of three different influenza families: A, B or C.
Type A viruses tend to affect adults more severely, while type B viruses most often cause health problems in children.
Type C viruses are fairly uncommon.
Pneumonia, a serious condition that causes inflammation of the lungs, can cause complications in people who have the flu.
Pneumonia causes the air sacs in the lungs to fill with pus and other fluids, preventing oxygen from reaching the bloodstream.
If there is too little oxygen in the blood, the body’s cells cannot function.
This can be fatal.
9. Kidney disease
Deaths in 2017: 50,633
People over 60 years of age have a high risk of kidney disease.
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis are all conditions that affect the kidneys.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) causes kidney damage.
Damaged kidneys cannot filter blood as well as healthy kidneys.
As a result of this, waste from the blood remains in the body and may lead to other health problems.
Around 30 million people in the U.S. may have CKD to some degree.
Being over 60 years old increases the risk of CKD, as does having a family history of it.
High blood pressure and diabetes are most likely to cause the CKD.
CKD develops in stages, and it does not usually cause symptoms until its most advanced stage.
So, undergoing regular screenings can help reduce a person’s risk of dying from kidney disease.
10. Suicide
Deaths in 2017: 47,173
Paul Plante says
Going back to the original post, towards the end, it states as follows, to wit:
“There is a lot at play, and it’s not good.”
“An AAR (After Action Review) needs to analyze what role the media played in generating this false hysteria.”
end quotes
Amen to that is all I can say, especially the part about the After-Action Report on what role the media has played in this matter, and it definitely has been one that is partisan and political, as can easily be demonstrated by gathering and analyzing the various “reports” coming out which pit Trump against Andy Cuomo of New York, the “best-loved Democrat” of our times according to one simpering puff-piece recently published and that brings us back in time to another After-Action Report assembled after 2001 and the Anthrax scare and the failures of the public health system in America to adequately deal with it, and this section of that AAR, in particular:
NCBI
“The Future of the Public’s Health in the 21st Century.”
Special Need for Communication Skills
The role of communication in public health practice cannot be underestimated.
It is crucial for the successful performance of public health’s core functions and essential services.
Governmental public health agencies must communicate effectively internally as well as externally with other governmental agencies and nongovernmental stakeholders and partners.
Informing and advising the public about health promotion and disease prevention are standard duties of both state and local public health agencies, and listening to community voices is also critical for programs to be effective.
In emergency situations, public health professionals must have the ability to communicate clearly and effectively — being aggressive and credible enough to command attention — with both the public and other officials about the nature of the health hazards and the steps necessary to minimize health risks.
The lesson from these and other communication breakdowns is evident: clear and effective communication, both internal and external, is a critical service of the governmental public health infrastructure.
Under more normal circumstances, public health communication is important for gathering information from the community about their health concerns as well as delivering and even “marketing” health information to the public.
Because the responsibilities of public health agencies cover all aspects of health, public health officials are in a unique position to provide timely, accurate health-related information to the public on a wide variety of topics, ranging from depression and other mental health issues to obesity and physical activity, environmental health and safety, emergency preparedness, and policies that affect health or health outcomes.
Given the tremendous potential of the mass media and evolving information technologies, such as the Internet, to influence the knowledge, normative beliefs, and behavior patterns of individuals and groups, governmental public health agencies must be prepared to use these communication tools.
The public health workforce must have sufficient expertise in communications to be able to engage diverse audiences with public health information and messages and to work with the media to ensure the accuracy of the health-related information they convey to the public.
end quotes
Are we hearing from any actual public health professionals here?
Of course not – they are boring, and besides, this is about pulling down Trump, because he is such an easy target and the media hates him, and as the Hearst publication the Albany, New York Times Union proved back in 1988 in New York state, the media doesn’t give a flying **** about the public’s health, at all.
As to the political bias coming out in these stories that continue this hysteria, we have as fine example of it in the simpering puff piece in the Albany Times Union “Churchill: This is Andrew Cuomo’s finest moment – New York’s governor has been the nation’s most authoritative voice during the pandemic” by Chris Churchill, on Sunday, March 22, 2020, to wit:
Cuomo is being listened to because he deserves to be heard.
While the information flowing out of the White House has been muddled and unserious, if not ridiculous and irresponsible, Cuomo is bluntly delivering truths we need to hear.
Cuomo is acting decisively.
A control freak is what we need.
If bullying saves lives by snapping the state’s bureaucracy into action, so be it.
He’s stepped up to meet the crisis.
He’s listening to his better angels.
He’s leading.
Listen to him, and you have no excuse for being one of the nitwits who refuse to take this crisis seriously.
But in recent days, the governor’s impact hasn’t been solely about his command and mastery over facts and data.
It’s also been about his emotional authenticity.
He’s been … comforting.
Cuomo has used his briefings to talk about his mother, Matilda, and how hard social distancing is on the elderly and the people who love them.
He has talked about worrying for his daughters and his powerlessness to protect them.
He has been poignant, moving, gentle.
“We will get through this time,” he said.
“Be a little bit more sensitive.”
“Understand the stress.”
“Understand the fear.”
“Be a little bit more loving.”
“A little bit more compassionate, comforting, cooperative.”
“And we will get through this time.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
As we confront this terrible crisis, we’re fortunate to have him.
end quotes
Now, what does that sappy, sophomoric drivel which sounds like something out of True Romance have to do with informing and advising the public about health promotion and disease prevention?
As the above AAR states, in emergency situations, it is public health professionals, not hack, lawyers like Andy Cuomo, must have the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with the public about the nature of the health hazards and the steps necessary to minimize health risks, and yet, those are the people we are not hearing from, at all, because this is not about protecting the health of the public, it is about promoting Andy Cuomo as our next president, as we see by going to another simpering, unctuous puff piece entitled “5 reasons Gov. Cuomo and Dr. Fauci are America’s de facto leaders during the coronavirus pandemic” by a “freelance” writer named Virginia K. Smith published March 30, 2020, to wit:
Throughout the month of March, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has held near-daily news conferences updating New Yorkers with dire statistics on ventilators and hospital beds.
In response, #PresidentCuomo has trended on Twitter, and the governor’s updates are repeatedly hailed as “comforting,” even by users who don’t live in New York.
end quotes
There it is, people – we’re scared, because Andy Cuomo and the media made us scared, and now that they have made us scared, there is OUR blessed Andy Cuomo coming forth to comfort us, and to make us feel good about ourselves and all squishy inside because his love for us is so great, that there is nothing he would not do to save our lives when nobody else is stepping up to the plate to do so.
Going back to that adoration of Cuomo, we have:
For Americans gripped with fear and confusion over the rapid spread of the coronavirus, Cuomo and Fauci have emerged as unexpected emotional life rafts.
end quotes
Ah, yes, how could I have forgotten – it is not really facts or truths we want here!
It is an emotional life raft we all really need, and in our hour of need, God, who everybody knows is both good and great, sent us Andy Cuomo as our Messiah – sing hallelujah and say amen!
And now we pause for station identification and a word from our sponsors so I can have time to go puke!
Paul Plante says
CDC
The provisional counts for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths are based on a current flow of mortality data in the National Vital Statistics System.
National provisional counts include deaths occurring within the 50 states and the District of Columbia that have been received and coded as of the date specified.
Table 1. Deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and pneumonia reported to NCHS by week ending date, United States. Week ending 2/1/2020 to 3/28/2020.
Total Deaths for Period
All COVID-19 Deaths (U07.1) 1,150
Deaths from All Causes 446,778
Percent of Expected Deaths 86
All Pneumonia Deaths (J12.0–J18.9) 24,741
Deaths with Pneumonia and COVID-19 (J12.0–J18.9 and U07.1) 469
Week Ending 03/28/20
All COVID-19 Deaths 788
Deaths from All Causes 28,498
All Pneumonia Deaths 2,040
Deaths with Pneumonia and COVID-19 324
Table 3. Deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and pneumonia reported to NCHS by jurisdiction of occurrence, United States. Week ending 2/1/2020 to 3/28/2020.
Data as of 4/3/2020
Jurisdiction of Occurrence Virginia
All COVID-19 Deaths (U07.1) 4
Deaths from All Causes 11,757
All Pneumonia Deaths (J12.0–J18.9) 459
Deaths with Pneumonia and COVID-19 (J12.0–J18.9 and U07.1) 1
Jurisdiction of Occurrence New York state outside of NYC
All COVID-19 Deaths (U07.1) 180
Deaths from All Causes 17,731
All Pneumonia Deaths (J12.0–J18.9) 1,343
Deaths with Pneumonia and COVID-19 (J12.0–J18.9 and U07.1) 98
Jurisdiction of Occurrence New York City
All COVID-19 Deaths (U07.1) 579
Deaths from All Causes 10,970
All Pneumonia Deaths (J12.0–J18.9) 1,012
Deaths with Pneumonia and COVID-19 (J12.0–J18.9 and U07.1) 205
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/COVID19/index.htm