“Second person in Jefferson County dies from COVID-19” trumpets the January 13 Leader’s front-page headline.
https://www.ptleader.com/stori
She was “an 80-year-old woman who was being treated in a Seattle-area hospital” since “late October for surgery unrelated to the coronavirus. Following the surgery, she developed complications which mandated additional hospitalization.
“In early December she became infected with COVID-19 as part of a hospital wide outbreak” and “passed away Dec.26.” Her death was not immediately considered to have been caused by COVID, according to Dr. Tom Locke, Jefferson County’s Health Officer. “[S]tate officials were brought in to investigate the death and determine whether her death should be classified as COVID-related or having to do with one of her multiple previously existing medical conditions.”
This second Jeffco death blamed on COVID-19 is even more dubious than the first, a hospice patient in her 90’s. In additional to multiple comorbidities, this 80-year-old woman, suffering what appear to have been extremely serious complications from surgery, had not been near Jefferson County for 2 months when she contracted COVID-19. All events surrounding her death took place in the Seattle area.
Below is a letter I wrote questioning Jeffco’s earlier death, which the Leader and Peninsula Daily News declined to publish. Its closing line appears to be still accurate: “Based on information reported to date, Jefferson County still seems to have no deaths from COVID-19.”
Dear Editor,
I respectfully question the basis on which “Jefferson County just recorded its first death from COVID-19 last week.”
The decedent was “in her 90s and was chronically ill and had been receiving hospice care,” meaning she was already on the verge of death with no hope of cure. She may have died WITH the virus, but I doubt she died FROM the virus.
This is a classic example of how shifting standards and incentives have inflated COVID-19 death totals. Coronavirus illnesses like colds didn’t count as the cause of death for hospice patients in years gone by.
But nowadays, “if you were in hospice and had already been given a few weeks to live, and then you also were found to have COVID, that would be counted as a COVID death… anyone who passes away after testing positive for the virus is included in that category,” per Illinois’ Health Director.
Hence our county’s “first death from COVID-19” would be “included in that category…after testing positive” whether or not she had any COVID symptoms hastening her already-imminent departure.
Note how this miscounts (often false) positive PCR tests for the SARS-CoV-2 virus as if they were symptomatic cases of the disease COVID-19, further inflating “case” and death statistics. Like HIV and AIDS, the virus and the disease are different concepts and should
not be lumped together.
Based on information reported to date, Jefferson County still seems to have no deaths from COVID-19.
— source links —
https://www.ptleader.com/stori
https://www.ptleader.com/stori
https://www.mayoclinic.org/hea
https://week.com/2020/04/20/id
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/0
https://twitter.com/kylamb8/st
Stephen Schumacher graduated with honors in Mathematics from Harvard College and programmed funds transfer systems between Wall Street banks and the Federal Reserve before moving to Port Townsend in 1983. He has served as an officer for various community organizations such as the Food Co-op, Jefferson Land Trust, and the Northwest Nutritional Foods Association. He co-created The Port Townsend Leader's original online newspaper and programs ship stability software used by naval architects.
It is all about money. The medical establishment gets more money from Medicare for a Covid death than anything else.
It’s all about sensationalism in the news these days. Thank you Jim, for reporting the truth.
Although the 21st century still has a long way to go, the government response to covid19 will probably be the greatest scam the people of this planet will be subjected to.
From reader MJ Heins:
The COVID-19 forever lockdowns are [being] justified by the results of RT-PCR tests. The number of “cases” depends on the test sensitivity. All the graphs, charts, press conferences and news articles are meaningless without knowing the cycle threshold (CT) values for the specific tests in the report. A test with a high CT value is likely to produce a positive result even in a person who has no current infection. The authorities use tests with high CT values to deny freedom of assembly, shut down businesses and keep everyone living in fear.
Explaining the PCR / RT-PCR Test (Reverse Transcription – Polymerase Chain Reaction)
There is no direct test for the SARS-COV-2 virus associated with COVID-19. The PCR test is for DNA which the virus does not have because it is an RNA virus. The reverse transcription part of the test is making DNA from the virus fragment RNA.
The polymerase chain reaction is necessary to make enough DNA to detect it. With a large viral load, you do not need to make a lot of copies to detect the DNA so maybe you need run 10 or 20 reaction cycles or a Cycle Threshold (CT) value of 10 or 20.
To get a positive test from someone who does NOT have a large viral load, you must run a lot of cycles to make a lot of DNA copies. If you run enough cycles, almost everyone is positive. A Cycle Threshold (CT) value of 40 or more results in false positives – people who are not ill or infectious.
It is also important to remember that the test is not always specific and may pick up harmless virus fragments that are not danger to anyone.
My favorite source is from Mercola.com: Why COVID-19 Testing Is a Tragic Waste
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/11/13/covid-19-testing.aspx
Coronavirus Cases Plummet When PCR Tests Are Adjusted
https://thevaccinereaction.org/2020/09/coronavirus-cases-plummet-when-pcr-tests-are-adjusted/
The Florida Department of Health is requiring that all labs in the state report the critical cycle threshold” level of every COVID-19 test they perform.
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/florida-requiring-labs-report-critical-cycle-threshold-covid-19-tests