But what few know about is the pair of actual epidemiologists- Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff- behind the actual academic push to adopt this insane strategy which proposes most Americans just get infected. This was noted in nearly full page piece in the WSJ (Oct. 24-25, p. A9), e.g.
Under the header: 'Epidemiologists Stray From The Covid Herd'. Wherein we learn the pair of "Covid rebels" is behind a controversial new strategy embodied in "The Great Barrington Declaration". Basically, the dubious duo believe if enough people get infected the virus can ultimately be conquered. So they want all the lockdowns to stop other than for the very vulnerable, i.e. immuno-compromised, morbidly obese, elderly etc. I suppose we can just stay shut up inside indefinitely - or take our chances as the "herd" is culled - by the millions.
Exaggeration? No. Sensible scientists, real ones, not PR quacks - assert 50-80 percent of Americans would need to become immune to reach so-called herd immunity. This is especially dire given that no pandemic in history has ever been controlled by just letting the infection spread unchecked in the hope most people will eventually become immune. In effect, this "Great Barrington Declaration" is like a Nazi Final Solution - but fits perfectly with Trump and the GOP's death cult.
This is all the more unnerving now as we've learned (Financial Times today, 'New Covid Variant Emerges') a new Covid variant has appeared in Europe and spreading. As the FT piece notes:
"A coronavirus variant that originated in Spanish farm workers has spread rapidly through much of Europe since the summer, and now accounts for the majority of new Covid-19 cases in several countries — and more than 80 per cent in the UK.
An international team of scientists that has been tracking the virus through its genetic mutations has described the extraordinary spread of the variant, called 20A.EU1, in a research paper to be published on Thursday. Because each variant has its own genetic signature, it can be traced back to the place it originated.
The scientific teams in Switzerland and Spain are now rushing to examine the behaviour of the variant to establish whether it may be more deadly or more infectious than other strains
Emma Hodcroft, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Basel emphasised that 20A.EU1 was unlike any version of Sars-Cov-2 — the virus that causes Covid-19 — she had previously come across. “I’ve not seen any variant with this sort of dynamic for as long as I’ve been looking at genomic sequences of coronavirus in Europe,” she said.
The new variant, which has six distinctive genetic mutations, emerged among agricultural workers in north-east Spain in June and moved quickly through the local population, according to the study.
Tanja Stadler, professor of computational evolution at ETH Zurich who is part of the project, said that analysis of virus samples taken from across Europe in recent weeks showed they were derived from this same variant.
“We can see the virus has been introduced multiple times in several countries and many of these introductions have gone on to spread through the population,” Prof Stadler said.
The team's research showed that the new variant accounted for more than eight out of 10 cases in the UK, 80 per cent of cases in Spain, 60 per cent in Ireland and up to 40 per cent in Switzerland and France. "
This alarming news - even as Covid cases explode in the U.S. - a record 88,000 cases today, over 9 million infections, and 229,000 dead - shows the folly inherent in the Declaration's claim that most Americans need not worry about uncontrolled transmission. Yeah, and so what if this new variant arrives here, and turns out to be as lethal as the 2nd wave strain of the Spanish Flu in 1918? The takeaway? If Trump somehow sneaks in again, a million Americans could be dead by this time next year.
This news from the FT puts a whole other light on this election, called "the most important in our lifetime" - given it may genuinely be. Since if the wrong choice is made in this election - i.e. Trump - millions of lifetimes may be cut short. Current estimates are that a massive death toll would result from herd immunity- anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 million, most in older people. This would not even take into account our fragile health system being pushed to the breaking point - with many more millions having to be triaged in tents. even as other medical emergencies (heart attacks, ruptured appendices) are placed on the backburner.
And the devastation to the economy would be beyond anything seen in the Great Depression.
The worst imaginable combination? Trump getting re-elected and the new Covid variant landing within weeks in the U.S.
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