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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Lifting Lockdowns Not the Culprit Behind New Surge in Coronavirus Cases, Doctor Says |
| 2020-07-14 |
| [PJMedia] Massive protests and proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border explains the recent surge in coronavirus cases far better than lifting lockdowns, Scott Atlas, M.D., a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, told Fox News this weekend. Bucking various health experts who have defended the George Floyd protests in the name of fighting the "virus" of racism, Atlas ventured to state the obvious: that people "protesting, sharing megaphones, screaming" is a "setup to spread cases." Most of the new cases in the Southwest -- in California, Arizona, and Texas -- are sprouting up in counties closest to the U.S.-Mexico border. "When you look in the southern counties of California, Arizona and the bordering counties of Texas -- with the Mexico border -- these are where most of these cases are really exploding," Atlas told Fox News. "And then you look at the Mexico map and in Mexico, that's where their cases are. Their cases are in the northern border zone states. And it turns out the timeline here correlates much more to the Mexico timeline of increasing cases than anything else." The doctor insisted that the lifting of lockdowns -- the re-opening of various states -- likely did not lead to the surge in new cases. "When you really look closely at these so-called re-opening policies, whether it's in Georgia or Florida or Texas, you know, we didn't really see a big correlation of cases and hospitalizations from that," Atlas said. "That's really not true. That's sort of some sloppy thinking, I think, again. We really ... have to look closely at why these things are happening." He argued that "California didn't really reopen. Yet they have cases coming up." Then Atlas touched on one of the main issues -- the massive protests in the wake of the horrific police killing of George Floyd. "They correlate mainly to two things -- the big thousands and thousands of people with protesting, sharing megaphones, screaming. That's a setup to spread cases," the doctor said. "And also when you look at the analysis of the border counties, there's a tremendous amount of cases coming over the border and exchanging with families in the northern Mexico states." The doctor warned that hospitals are getting crowded not just because of new cases but because hospitals are finally addressing "regular medical care" again. "We have locked that down before and that policy kills people. So we don't want to go back to that," he said. Indeed, the original lockdowns often put a halt to all "elective" surgeries, including heart surgeries and cancer treatments. Also keep in mind that we have changed how we count to include "probable cases" which means anyone with a sniffle or a cough is COVID-19 positive with or without a positive test, and the financial incentives under Medicare to report cases as COVID-19. |
| Posted by:Iblis |
| #14 I know...2020 is tote Hose. |
| Posted by: Clem 2020-07-14 23:53 |
| #13 Not this year I'm afraid. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-07-14 20:06 |
| #12 Just get the beer fests open again there in Bayern! |
| Posted by: Clem 2020-07-14 19:25 |
| #11 I think we've done a good job. That's all. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-07-14 19:23 |
| #10 Yes, we know Americans are stupid already, you don't have to say it again. But you do, don't you? |
| Posted by: Maggie Poodle6767 2020-07-14 17:33 |
| #9 Letting the virus "run its course" seems to me a very reckless action, given the possibility that immunity may be short lived and future health damages may be enormous. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-07-14 16:12 |
| #8 @tw " But the purpose of lockdowns, as originally presented, was to flatten the curve so that hospitals were not overwhelmed, not to cut off the curve altogether." To cut off the curve would have been smarter idea in the first place. New Zealand decided to do so from the beginning and was successful. Germany almost succeeded in doing that, too, but relaxed the rules a bit too early. Still, with 6000 active cases currently, we're in pretty good shape right now. Most new infections can be traced back and be put under control. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-07-14 16:10 |
| #7 We are not spoiled kids angry with daddy Grom, we watch the facts, the truth, and we know this is an over reaction. From your mouth to the ear of G*d. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-07-14 11:27 |
| #6 It was very clear during the daily briefings that they wanted to flatten the curve as to not overwhelm the hospitals. Now it has changed. This virus WILL run its course through the population, you cant stop it. We inoculate 45% of America for the annual Flu and we still lose 30 to 60 thousand. This will run its course, and anyone who believed the so called "Science" that it would go away in summer was a fool. We are not spoiled kids angry with daddy Grom, we watch the facts, the truth, and we know this is an over reaction. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2020-07-14 11:16 |
| #5 Bordertowns AZ: Sparsely populated Yuma and Santa Cruz counties are Arizona's COVID-19 hot spots. Yuma recently confirmed 63 new cases of COVID-19 and two new deaths, bringing the total case count to 3,467 and total deaths to 53. Gee, who can explain that? |
| Posted by: b 2020-07-14 08:03 |
| #4 Nope we're in week gawd knows what of a 3 week lockdown to "save the NHS". which unfortunately for British health did survive, and with the overflow nightingale hospitals being completely unused. The curve's been so flat it can't even be noticed. COVID kills when the immune system over-reacts to it. Ironic that the government is totally over-reacting to COVID. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2020-07-14 04:05 |
| #3 Actually TW, (IMO) the thought at the basis of lockdowns was that come summer, the virus will go away. Nobody expected any different given our experience with coronaviruses. But, of course, the experience is with naturally evolved - not engineered - coronaviruses. So right now, governments, have no solution but to walk lockdown relaxation back. And people riot "But you promised, Daddy!" |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-07-14 03:42 |
| #2 Agreed, g(r)omgoru. But the purpose of lockdowns, as originally presented, was to flatten the curve so that hospitals were not overwhelmed, not to cut off the curve altogether. As long as we stay below that potential peak — a peak much higher than before, because of additional equipment and better treatments while we wait for cures and vaccines to be developed — should we not open up as much as is sustainable? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-07-14 03:21 |
| #1 IMO, you can argue that relaxing lookdowns in necessary. You can't argue that it doesn't contribute to rise in covid 19 cases - unless, of course, the voice of your "inner truth" outweighs all other considerations. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-07-14 02:53 |