“And I tested very positively in another sense, this morning. I tested positively toward negative, right? So I tested perfectly this morning. Meaning I tested negative. … But that’s a way of saying it: positively toward the negative.” – Donald Trump, May 21, 2020
It is now nearly six months into 2020, the year in which the next president of the United States will be elected. America is a warzone, literally! The U.S. government under the rule of self-proclaimed “Big Brain” Donald is at war with the American people. The war being waged against the American people by President Trump is being fueled by his psychopathic behavior and tactics of “lie, deny, defy!” To survive the war being waged against you by Donald Trump you must first understand the dangers explained in “Coronavirus Survival Guide Part 2: COVID-19 vs Spanish Flu and Donald Trump.” These dangers stem from the unprecedented disinformation campaign bring employed by Trump, solely for the purpose of winning the upcoming presidential election. Trump’s disinformation campaign which makes dangerous claims about hydroxychloroquine and other untruths about the COVID-19 pandemic will cost hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of American lives.
The Coronavirus COVID-19 Survival Guide published on this site in April of this year helped the reader to develop a survival guide tailored to the reader’s specific needs. To further improve your survival guide, you must understand how COVID-19 compares to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.
The Spanish Flu of 1918 infected 500 million people worldwide and killed approximately 50 million people. That is a 10% mortality rate. According to the CDC, in the United States, over a three-year period, it killed 675,000 people {1}. The mortality rate is not something you will find discussed in the mainstream media. But simple math will provide the answer. Globally, there are 431,541 COVID-19 deaths. When divided by 7,823,289 cases then multiplied by 100, you arrive at a death rate of 5.51 or roughly 6%. Under the Trump administration, there have been 2,155,809 infections with 117,810 deaths. Using the same simple math formula, that equals a death rate of 5.46, nearly 6%. COVID-19 has been in the U.S. since the middle of February, about 4 months. At the current rate of infection, the virus will kill 347,223 people by the end of the year. In 2 years, that is 694,446 people surpassing the Spanish flu in one third less time. In three years that is 1,041,669 people. That totals 50% more people dead from COVID-19 than the Spanish Flu over the same period of time. Yet Trump is telling people that it is safe to go back to work. It is even safe to attend his MAGA rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 19th, Juneteenth.
The pandemic started in China in December 2019, two months before the virus landed on American soil. Unlike the U.S. China took very aggressive steps to curtail and contain the virus. To date, there have been slightly over 83,000 infections with only 4,634 deaths in China. China’s population is 1.4 billion people vs a population of 327 million in the U.S. China’s population is roughly 4 times that of the U.S. Simply by looking at the results of how each government has handled the pandemic leads one to the conclusion that something stinks in America. The United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and France have all conquered the COVID-19 pandemic problem, proof that their government responses have been far better than that of the Trump administration. America which purports to be the greatest country in the world, with the greatest economy, the greatest scientist, the greatest healthcare system, yet in dealing with COVID-19 she has proven to be just the opposite of greatest. Why is that? The nation’s top scientists are professing the use of the same tactics that all the successful nations have used. Unfortunately, the American leadership under Donald Trump, which feigns disbelief in science, is derelict in its duty to protect its people from all enemies foreign and domestic. Instead, it has become the enemy and forms a partnership with the grim reaper.
By refusing to adhere to the wisdom of science, Trump and his Republican governors have decided to intentionally kill hundreds of thousands of citizens for the purpose of winning the 2020 presidential election. They have done this by declaring that the cure is worse than the disease, which is a lie. So now we’re back to his disinformation machine, “lie, deny, defy!” He has lied about the cure, treatments, and testing. He has denied the advice of the entire scientific community of the world. Last but not least, he has defied the American people. If you follow this psychopath, you may die which is alright with him.
Don’t be fooled by drinking the Trump Kool-Aide. While Trump and the media are peddling the idea that a second wave of the virus may happen soon. Technically, the first wave has not ended yet. The number of cases is still on the rise. Until the number of cases peaks then drops, there will be no second wave. The Spanish flu took three years to complete three waves, with the second being the most deadly.
While the death rate of COVID-19 is 4% lower than that of the Spanish flu (H1N1, swine flu), it is more devastating. A typical flu survivor has a complete recovery and can return to a normal life. That is not the case with COVID-19. While Trump contends that COVID-19 isn’t very deadly, unlike the flu, it attacks more than just the respiratory system. It is also more devastating to the respiratory system.
H1N1 which was the disease of the 1918 pandemic does not destroy lung tissue. A survivor can return to a normal life, not so with COVID-19. COVID-19 destroys lung tissue and often leaves survivors with debilitating lung disease for the rest of their lives. COVID-19 does more damage to the lungs than smoking and in a tremendously shorter time period. Many COVID-19 patients never return to a normal life.
COVID-19, unlike the flu, also attacks other organs in the body with devastating effects. In the United Kingdom, scientists believe that Covid-19 patients who have required hospitalization, 45% will need ongoing medical care, 4% will need inpatient rehabilitation, and 1% will require acute care for the rest of their lives. Cardiac injury caused by viral infections is well documented in COVID-19 patients where it is particularly harmful, according to several studies. Patients with COVID-19 who were previously healthy and had no underlying cardiac problems are now developing severe, a sudden inflammation of the heart muscles. The inflammation causes rhythm disturbances and muscle damage, interfering with the heart’s ability to effectively pump blood throughout the body.
COVID-19 also causes damage to the brain and central nervous system, causing uncontrollable tremors. Some Covid-19 patients experience unexpectedly high rates of blood clots caused by inflammatory responses to the infection. These blood clots cause lung blockages, strokes, heart attacks, and other complications with serious, lasting effects. Kidney failure has been found in many severe Covid-19 patients. Patients’ clotted blood has been clogging dialysis machines. These acute kidney injuries may require ongoing dialysis and in some cases become permanent, requiring a kidney transplant. In Houston, Texas, the University of Texas Health Science Center researchers warns that Covid-19 may cause lingering cardiac damage, making existing cardiovascular problems worse, dramatically increasing the risk for heart attack and stroke in survivors. Diarrhea, vomiting, and other gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are being reported in approximately half of all COVID-19 patients. Acute viral hepatitis has also been found in some patients battling COVID-19.
COVID-19 is more than a threat to the American economy, which is all that Trump and Republican governors appear to be concerned with by re-opening the country despite the continuous rise in infections. They are so concerned with a short-term economic fix that they believe will help them win re-election; they ignore the long economic, national security, and catastrophic human casualties caused by their actions. In April, less than 2 months after the virus began to devastate the country, Trump declared that he was re-opening the country in May. The CDC laid out guidelines for a safe re-opening of the country. Without these guidelines ever being met, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas and other Republican Governors led by Trump began to re-open the country leading to a resurgence of the virus. This has extended the first wave of the first and led to over 80,000 deaths since re-opening. According to a study by the Kaiser Foundation, the re-opening has led to increased mental illness proportionate to the number of job losses. According to the study, over 50% of people that have lost jobs or income say that the pandemic has harmed their mental health.
Trump’s disinformation campaign of lie, deny, and defy has created an enormous trust gap between the American public and the federal government. His policies and lies have led many people of color to question whether any COVID-19 vaccines yet to be developed are trustworthy. The federal government has a reputation for performing medical experiments on people of color that date back to the Tuskegee experiment. According to the Center for Disease Control (3):
“In 1932, the Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks. It was called the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.”
“The study initially involved 600 black men – 399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease. The study was conducted without the benefit of patients’ informed consent. Researchers told the men they were being treated for “bad blood,” a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. In truth, they did not receive the proper treatment needed to cure their illness. In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance. Although originally projected to last 6 months, the study actually went on for 40 years.”
“The men were never given adequate treatment for their disease. Even when penicillin became the drug of choice for syphilis in 1947, researchers did not offer it to the subjects. The advisory panel found nothing to show that subjects were ever given the choice of quitting the study, even when this new, highly effective treatment became widely used.”
The Tuskegee study is the most famous incident, but not the only incident of unwarranted medical experiments performed on African Americans. An April 21, 2017, Time Magazine Article (4), “The Disturbing History of African-Americans and Medical Research Goes Beyond Henrietta Lacks” provides a lengthy history of such experiments. According to the article, Henrietta Lacks, “a black woman treated unsuccessfully for cervical cancer in 1951, from whose tumor doctors kept a sample of tissue. Her cells provided a breakthrough would prove invaluable to medical research, but her family was kept in the dark even as they themselves became the subjects of scientific interest.” Neither Lacks nor her descendants were ever compensated for the incredible breakthroughs that came from her body tissue.
Unfortunately, under the Trump administration and its disinformation campaign of “lie, deny, defy” America is doomed. Because of systemic racism, COVID-19 is devastating to the Black community more than any other ethnic group in America. Unless the government can earn the trust and support of people of color, a large percentage will not take the vaccine. And rightfully so, considering this country’s racist history of medical -experimentation and the racism espoused by Trump daily. Without their participation, the virus will continue to ravage this country. But, it’s not just people of color that don’t trust this so-called President Trump or his administration. It is impossible to have faith in a government that has said the following contradicting things about the pandemic:
Now it is time to assess the threats at hand:
1. Is COVID-19 as devastating as the Spanish Flu of 1918?
2. Can up afford to get infected?
3. Can Trump be trusted?
4. If he can’t be trusted, is he a threat to your safety, existence?
5. Which is more dangerous, Trump or COVID-19?
If the nation is to survive the COVID-19 pandemic and recover economically, the American public has to have faith in its government and the vaccines that prove to be effective. Every American has to follow social distancing guidelines, wear a mask, wear gloves, increase handwashing, and get vaccinated when one has been proven effective. If you are to survive, the first things to write in your COVID-19 Survival Guide are:
6. Don’t Trust Trump
7. Trust the science
8. Research, research, research
9. Don’t take the first vaccines rushed to market (the first COVID-19 test approved by the CDC and rushed to market proved to be ineffective. There is no reason to believe that the vaccines will be any different)
10. Reassess your priorities. Is the money worth more than your life and the lives of your loved ones? Remember, death is irreversible.
11. Most importantly, stay home when possible
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Linked Sources and Documentation
- CDC Spanish flu statistics: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html
- Visual Capitalist: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-what-covid-19-does-to-your-body/
- Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male: https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm
- Time Magazine article: https://time.com/4746297/henrietta-lacks-movie-history-research-oprah/
Copyright © 2020 Glen Reaux, all rights reserved
