“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.”
Mahatma Gandhi
A Sixth grader recently emailed me asking why I am so certain it is safe to reopen our schools - even though nearly everyone in the mass media and the government are saying that it is not safe and that reopening the schools would lead to a tidal wave of fatalities. Here are 10 reasons why I am certain it is safe to reopen public schools here in Washington state (and in the rest of the nation too).
#1 Just because the government and mass media tell you something does not make it true.
There have been many times in the past when our government and media have lied to the American people. One of the most recent examples was the false claim that Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction.” This Big Lie cost American tax payers trillions of dollars and cost the people of the Iraq more than one million lives – mostly women and children – over what was really an attempt to steal Iraqi oil for US corporations. Although a Sixth grader might be too young to understand the harm inflicted by the Iraq War, her parents ought to know better.
It is important to understand why the mass media and corrupt government officials consistently mislead and manipulate the American people. In the case of the Iraq War, it is that the US is controlled by a war machine that makes more than a trillion dollars a year using fear to promote wars all over the world. In the case of the corona virus, it is that the US is even more controlled by drug corporations who make more than a trillion dollars a year using fear to brain wash Americans into consuming drugs that often do more harm than good – leading to thousands of needless deaths every year. The CDC, which is nothing more than an advertising agency for drug corporations, is one of the primary ways that drug companies instill fear in the American people. I wrote about the shocking history of bribery and kickback schemes between the CDC, drug companies, the mass media and corrupt government officials in the first chapter of my book, Common Sense versus Corona Virus Hysteria which you can read for free at the following website: https://commonsensebook.org/i-corona-virus-risks/1-corona-virus-fatalities/1-1-the-cdc-is-not-your-friend
Together the War Machine and Drug Corporations are a two headed monster that has nearly complete control over the mass media and the US government.
So remember the next time you hear fear mongering from the CDC, the mass media or corrupt government officials, the real goal is to create fear to make more money for drug companies. As my mom used to say, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Never trust the government or the media or the CDC or the Drug Pushers. Do your own research.
#2 There has been no increase in fatalities in Washington state in 2020 compared to previous years.
There is no more obvious evidence that we are being lied to an manipulated than the compare the media claims of mass death with the real record of daily and weekly fatalities here in Washington state this year compared to previous years. The following graph is average daily fatalities for the first five months of 2020 compared to the same weeks in 2019 and 2018. You can see that in all three years about 170 people per day die in Washington state.
Note that there was no increase in fatalities before all the schools were closed. The corona virus did not lead to an increase in fatalities. Equally important, after the government shutdown of schools and businesses, there was no reduction in fatalities. Thus, contrary to government claims, closing schools in April and May did not lead to a reduction in fatalities.
Some have claimed that the corona virus killed mostly people over the age of 70. I therefore did an analysis of all of the nursing homes here in Washington state and found that there was no increase in deaths among older people. It is simply a fact that older people always account for the vast majority of deaths. What these older people really died from were things like heart attacks and cancer. Here is a link to this study:
https://commonsensebook.org/latest-news/additional-evidence-the-corona-virus-is-no-worse-than-the-seasonal-flu
So why did the government and media claim that these older people were dying from the corona virus? The answer is that on March 5, 2020, the CDC changed the rules for how deaths were to be recorded. The corona virus was to be listed as the cause of death any any case where a person might have the corona virus – and even in cases where it was known that the actual cause of death was a heart attack or cancer. Here is a link to an article I wrote about this massive deception:
https://commonsensebook.org/i-corona-virus-risks/1-corona-virus-fatalities/1-1-the-cdc-is-not-your-friend
So when the media reports on how many people died from the corona virus this year, remember that this was the same media that insisted that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
#3 The corona virus did not overwhelm our hospitals
The government has also claimed repeatedly that corona virus victims would overwhelm hospitals here in Washington state. In fact, corona virus admissions at hospitals in our state never exceeded 6% of capacity – and since the end of April, corona admissions have been less than 1% of capacity. Here is the graph of hospital admissions in the US during 2020 compared to US hospital capacity:
The blue dots are seasonal flu and corona virus admissions. The red line are all other admissions. Flu admissions peaked at 7% of total admissions on February 1, 2020. Corona virus hospital admissions peaked on March 10, 2020. By the time that the government shut down our schools on March 20, 2020, corona virus infections had already fallen by 50%. Despite the fact that there was no hospital crisis in our state, our Governor ordered an emergency hospital to be built in Seattle at a cost of more than one million dollars. Here is a picture of that hospital. Note the empty beds. This hospital never served a single patient and was taken back down less than one week after it was built.
The mass hysteria media keeps reporting that corona hospital admissions are way up. What is the truth about corona hospital admissions now?
Corona virus hospital admissions in Washington state peaked on March 23, 2020 at 88 admissions in a single day. This was much less than the previous months seasonal flu admissions. And these 88 admissions are in a state with 7.7 million people with a total hospital capacity of more than 2,000 daily admissions. Put bluntly, 88 admissions in a state as large as Washington state is next to nothing. By May, corona virus admissions per day had fallen to 20 or about 1 percent of capacity. In June, according to the Washington state Department of Health, corona admissions rose to about 30 per day or 1.5 percent of capacity. This is more than May but it is still next to nothing – and having no measurable effect on the total death rate in our state.
Of course, if you listen to the mass media, you hear hourly reports of overwhelmed hospitals in Florida, Texas and Arizona. What is the truth about this? Let’s go to the CDC national database which tracks weekly flu related hospital admissions to total hospital admissions. Here is the link:
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2019-2020/data/senAllregt29.html
You will see that total hospital admissions peaked during the first week of February 2020 at 1.57 million people. Total US hospital capacity is about 2 million. Seasonal flu Type A hospital admissions peaked a week later at 111,365. This was 7% of total admissions that week – but only 5% of US hospital capacity. Corona virus admissions peaked in the US during the second week of March at 89,560. This was 6 percent of admissions for that week – but only 4% of hospital capacity.
The low point in corona admissions in the US was reached at the end of Week 23 (which was June 6, 2020), when corona admissions in the US were only 9,277. This was much less than 1 percent of capacity. Currently, the latest complete week of reporting is Week 28 which ends on July 11, 2020. Corona admissions were 19,804 which was 1 percent of capacity. Total admissions were 1.3 million which was 65% of capacity – which is about the normal hospital weekly admissions in the US. Thus, we can conclude that total hospital admissions in the US now are normal and that corona admissions are only one percent of US hospital capacity.
As for the reports of the overwhelmed hospital complex in Houston, Texas, called Houston Medical Center, they did report that all 1,330 of their Primary Intensive Care Units were occupied at the end of June 2020. However, they later issued a press release clarifying that they still had capacity to add 900 more Intensive Care Units if needed and that the public should not panic. The President of the hospital, Dr. Marc Boom, stated that this same hospital was also at 95% of capacity on June 25, 2019 and always operates near capacity this time of year! Here is a quote from Dr. Boom that never made it to the mass hysteria media: “Quite frankly, we’re concerned that there is a level of alarm in the community that is unwarranted... as a rule, hospitals actually try to operate as near to capacity as possible in order to maximize resources and minimize cost burdens.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/a-texas-sized-misunderstanding-about-hospital-capacity-in-houston
So the next time the media and government tell you that our hospitals might be overwhelmed just remember the picture of the empty hospital in Seattle. And remember that this is the same media and government that claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
#4 The largest study ever conducted on the corona virus and public schools concluded that keeping schools open does not lead to any increase in fatalities among either students or teachers.
While government officials shut down all schools in Washington state for the final three months of the school year in the Spring of 2020, the nation of Sweden, which is slightly larger than Washington State understood from previous scientific research that leaving schools and businesses open would not increase the risk from the corona virus – because the human immune system is what really protects us from all viruses. Sweden therefore left their schools open. Here is a picture of kids playing on a playground in Sweden in May 2020. Note that no one is wearing masks and no one is being forced to stay six feet apart.
This result from this huge experiment involving tens of thousands of teachers and hundreds of thousands of students in Sweden was published on July 7, 2020. Here is a link to this study: https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/contentassets/c1b78bffbfde4a7899eb0d8ffdb57b09/covid-19-school-aged-children.pdf
The study compared the outcome in Sweden, where schools remained open, to its neighbor Finland, where schools were closed. Here are quotes from the study (with my bolding added to relevant sentences about the lack of risk to teachers or students):
“There was no difference in the overall incidence of the laboratory confirmed covid-19 cases in the age group 1-19 years in the two countries. No deaths were reported in this age group in either Sweden or Finland. Outbreak investigations in Finland have not shown children to be contributing much in terms of transmission and in Sweden a report comparing risk of covid-19 in different professions, showed no increased risk for teachers. In conclusion, closure or not of schools had no measurable direct impact on the number of laboratory confirmed cases in school-aged children in Finland or Sweden. Children in general seem to be much less affected by covid-19 than adults. They do not become severely ill to the same extent as adults and because of less severe symptoms or none at all, might be less infectious.”
“Finland is about half the size of Sweden with 5.5 million inhabitants compared to 10.3 million in Sweden. Compared to other professions, the relative risk among teachers in day care, primary and secondary school were the same, indicating no increased risk of exposure and infection in the Swedish group.”
“The Public Health Agency of Sweden published a report on covid-19 and school children on May 29, 2020, summarizing the findings and effects of keeping day care and primary schools open in Sweden… By now it is evident that children are much less likely to develop serious disease if they become infected meaning that keeping schools open might be less harmful for children than closing them.”
“In the contact tracings in primary schools in Finland, there has been hardly any evidence of children infecting other persons. The Swedish comparison of the number of reported cases among staff in day care and primary school to the number of cases in other professions does not show any increased risk for teachers. This also indicates that the role of children in propagating this infection is likely to be small. Various studies on contact tracing have also found that children rarely are the first case in family clusters.”
In conclusion, Sweden is a nation that is about 20% bigger than Washington state. In the most detailed study done in the world to date on risk to teachers of direct teaching in schools, the authors of the study (the Swedish Department of Health) found that there was no additional risk to teachers or students in keeping thousands of schools open.
#5 Over 80 additional studies on children and the corona virus from around the world reached the same conclusion as the Swedish study – namely that children do not spread the corona virus to adults or to other children.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in the United Kingdom published a 45 page summary of 78 studies and concluded that children do not pose a significant threat of transmitting the corona virus to adults. Here is a link to this very important study: https://dontforgetthebubbles.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/COVID-data-top-10.pdf
The researchers found that the infection rate in children under the age of 10 was extremely low. More important, they found that there was not a single reported case of a child under the age of 10 transmitting the virus to any adult – anywhere in the world!
The July 2020 issue of Pediatrics medical journal published a similar summary of research from China, France, Switzerland, and Australia showing that infected children do not spread the disease to each other, or to their teachers. The biggest case study was from New South Wales, where nine infected students and nine infected staff exposed a total of 735 students and 128 staff. Only two of the exposed children got sick, and none of the adults. Contract tracing found that, in 79% of households, at least one adult family member was suspected or confirmed for COVID19 prior to symptom onset in the study child, confirming that children are infected almost exclusively at home inside family clusters. The editors of the study concluded: “This data all suggests that children are not significant drivers of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Here is a link to this report:
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2020/07/08/peds.2020-004879.full.pdf
In plain English, in the above study of 963 tested individuals, all from the same school in Australia, a total of 18 were found to carry the corona virus (less than 2 percent). All 18 had contracted the virus outside of the school. 16 of the 18 infected people had contracted the corona virus in their private homes from another infected family member. Despite the infected teachers and students exposing 963 individuals to the corona virus while at school, there were only 2 confirmed cases of transmission that was outside of the home – both were children who contracted it from an unknown source. None of the 128 staff at the school, most of whom were teachers, were infected by the corona virus while at school and in close contact with other students and teachers.
On June 23, 2020, a study of schools in France was published. Here are some quotes: “Of the 1,340 people included in the study, 139 had been infected by the virus, representing 10.4% of the population under study. 510 students from six primary schools were included in the study. There were three probable cases of corona virus infection in three different schools before the schools closed for the February vacation and then for the lockdown. These cases did not give rise to secondary cases among other school students or teaching staff. Children did not spread the infection to other students or to teachers or other staff at the schools. The study also confirmed that younger children infected by the corona virus generally do not develop symptoms or present with minor symptoms that may result in a failure to diagnose the virus.”
https://www.pasteur.fr/en/press-area/press-documents/covid-19-primary-schools-no-significant-transmission-among-children-students-teachers
In total, we now have nearly 100 studies from around the world. In every case, school students were found to have NOT transmitted the virus to other students, school staff, parents or grandparents. The oft-repeated claim by Olympia bureaucrats that reopening schools will lead to dead teachers or dead grandparents is simply fear mongering propaganda that has no support from any scientific study.
#6 Numerous nations have reopened their schools and none of aw any increase in fatalities
In addition to Sweden, Nicaragua did not close their schools. Despite leaving their schools open, Nicaragua had the lowest death rate of any Central American Nation. Taiwan also never closed their schools and also had no increase in infections or fatalities. Cuba also never closed their schools and also had no increase in infections or fatalities. Denmark reopened their elementary schools on April 15, 2020. They then opened their middle schools and high schools in May. The Netherlands opened their elementary schools on May 11, 2020 and their high schools on June 2, 2020. Schools that reopened in Finland, Belgium, Austria and Germany also reported no increase in infections or fatalities from reopening schools. https://globalhealth.washington.edu/sites/default/files/COVID-19%20Schools%20Summary%20%282%29.pdf
Here is a table I have compiled of 15 nations around the world and their policies on reopening schools. I have included Washington state at the bottom of the table for comparison even though schools have remained closed in Washington state:
|
Country |
Open |
Months Closed |
Smaller Class Sizes |
Masks Required |
Temp Checks |
Corona Transmission from Kids |
Deaths per million |
|
Belgium |
Yes |
2 |
Yes |
Teachers Only |
No |
No increase |
844 |
|
Denmark |
Yes |
1 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No increase |
105 |
|
Finland |
Yes |
1 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No Increase |
59 |
|
France |
Yes |
2 |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No increase |
460 |
|
Germany |
Yes |
2 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No increase |
109 |
|
Greece |
Yes |
3 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No increase |
19 |
|
Israel |
Yes |
2 |
No |
Yes |
No |
No increase |
40 |
|
New Zealand |
Yes |
2 |
No |
No |
No |
No increase |
4 |
|
Netherlands |
Yes |
2 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No increase |
358 |
|
Norway |
Yes |
1 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No increase |
47 |
|
Sweden |
Yes |
0 |
No |
No |
No |
No increase |
548 |
|
Switzerland |
Yes |
2 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No increase |
227 |
|
Nicaragua |
Yes |
0 |
No |
No |
No |
No increase |
16 |
|
Cuba |
Yes |
0 |
No |
No |
No |
No increase |
8 |
|
Taiwan |
Yes |
0 |
No |
Yes |
No |
No increase |
1 |
|
Washington |
No |
5 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
None |
189 |
Note that many of the nations with the best outcomes did not require students or teachers to wear masks. In addition, studies have found that the fatality rate from the corona virus, while not being related to school closures, has been strongly correlated with factors such as poor air quality and the percent of the population who smoke cigarettes. This is now known to be because viruses are carried by tiny particles of pollution floating in the air. Thus, the reason that Washington state is not because Washington shut down schools and businesses. Rather Washington state has a relatively low rate of fatalities because Washington state has relatively good air quality.
#7 The recent increase in corona virus cases is due entirely to an increase in testing
Corona virus tests in Washington state averaged about 30,000 per week during April and May with about 6% testing positive during these two months. Here is a graph of the number of Corona tests given each day since March from the Washington State Department of Health:
Note that at the top of this graph from the Washington State Department of Health, it states that the average percent of positive tests for the past 4 months has been 5.7%. The average percent of positive tests for the month of June has been 4.8 percent. Therefore, the average for the prior two months was over 6 percent – meaning that there has been a huge decline in the percent of positive tests in June compared to the three prior months!
Let’s take a closer look at the testing data from the end of May to the beginning of July. The number of tests have gone way up.
The average number of tests per week in April and May was about 30,000. For the first week in July it was 83,228. This was an increase of 277% in the number of tests from the last week in May to the first week in July. Here is a graph of this huge increase in tests per week in Washington state:
At the same time that there was an 277% increase in the number of tests, the percentage of positive tests fell from 6.0 percent in May to 4.8 percent for June – a decrease of 20% from May 2020 to June 2020. Here is a graph of Weekly Percent Positive Tests in Washington State in June 2020:
Remember this the next time the media and government claim that cases are skyrocketing in Washington state. It is due entirely to the fact that the number of tests are skyrocketing.
#8 Corona virus fatalities are almost non-existent in Washington State
The media has claimed that so many people went out having fun on Memorial Day weekend that it would lead to an explosion in fatalities later in June. Well, we are now near the end of July and here are the reported corona daily fatalities for June compared to the historical average of 150 fatalities per day during June in Washington state.
Put in plain English,for more than one month, corona fatalities have been an extremely small fraction of the 150 fatalities we have in Washington state each day during every June. Keep in mind that almost none of these claimed corona fatalities actually died from the corona virus. Nearly all of these victims had many other serious medical problems. And most of them were elderly people over the age of 80 who never left their homes. This is why total fatalities in Washington state on a daily, weekly or monthly basis have not increased at all compared to previous years. It would be more accurate to say that these people died “with the corona virus” rather than “from the corona virus.” Thus, the facts show that there was not a health emergency in March 2020 and there is certainly not a health emergency in Washington state in July 2020.
#9 Studies confirm that most people are naturally immune to the corona virus
On May 8, 2020, I estimated that about 67% of the US population was already immune to the corona virus. This estimate was based on three data points. First, the immunity rate to the 1918 Spanish Flu in the US was 67% - only 33% were infected. Second, an April 7, 2020 study of a homeless population in Boston found that only 37% of the homeless had corona virus antibodies – implying that 63% were already immune. Third, the null hypothesis assumes that there will be no difference between the seasonal flu and the corona virus. Since the seasonal flu never infects more than one third of the population in any given year, then in the absence of additional data, one should assume that most people are already immune to the corona virus.
Here is a quote from the Preface to the first edition of my book: “The good news is that most people have a natural immunity to the corona virus – which is why they do not display any symptoms. At least two thirds of the US population has a healthy immune system and therefore are unlikely be infected.”
We now know at least 50% of the population was already naturally immune to the corona virus due to past exposure to previous corona or common cold viruses. On May 14, 2020, one week after I published my book, a ground breaking study was posted online that estimated that about 50% of people who have not been exposed to the corona virus have resistance at the T-cell level – due to their previous exposure to similar corona viruses - like the viruses that are the primary cause of the common cold. Here is a link to this study. https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)30610-3.pdf
As I explained in detail in my book, T cells are cells produced by the body to fight off a virus. There are different kinds of T cells. The study compared the type of T cells present in 20 patients who had recovered from the corona virus to the T cells of people who were never exposed to the corona virus (people who had donated blood between 2015 to 2018). Their analysis found that 100% of recovered corona patients had a particular kind of T cell called CD4+. There are strong reasons to believe that this is the type of T cell is important to fighting the corona virus.This same T cell was found in about 50% of healthy blood donor samples (implying that 50% of people in the US population already had natural immunity to the corona virus through past exposure to similar cold viruses).
Researchers then tested the healthy blood donor samples for two of the most common types of cold-related corona viruses – alpha corona virus and beta corona virus. All of the blood donor samples that tested positive for CD4+ T cells also tested positive for these common corona viruses. This result goes a long way towards explaining why huge numbers of people with close and constant exposure to the corona virus either do not get it at all – or get a case that is so mild that they do not even know they have the corona virus. It also explains why many people test positive for the corona virus but do not transmit the corona virus to other people. It is because the T cells in their immune system destroy the corona virus before the virus can be passed on to others.
#10 While schools are very safe, staying at home is much more dangerous
As I pointed out in my book, thanks to a study from New York, we have known since May 6, 2020 that86% of all corona virus transmissions occur in private homes – not in public businesses.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/06/ny-gov-cuomo-says-its-shocking-most-new-coronavirus-hospitalizations-are-people-staying-home.html
Thus, the most dangerous place for either students or teachers to be is inside of their home – where the majority of corona infections occur. The safest place for students and teachers to be is in schools – where virtually no corona virus infections occur!
Conclusion… Reopening Schools is the Safest Option for Both Students and Teachers
Here in Washington, the seasonal flu was more of a threat to children in 2020 that the corona virus was. According to the Washington Department of Health, there have been no fatalities due to the corona virus to any child under the age of 20 anywhere in Washington state. Your child is more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightening while playing on the school playground than they are to be killed by the corona virus.
Sadly, instead of looking at the nearly 100 studies, all of which show that it is safe to reopen schools, Olympia Bureaucrats and their partners in the mass media continue to claim that opening schools would result in a tidal wave of deaths. Sadly, many teachers and parents have been taken in by this hysteria. It now looks like most schools in our state will remain closed this fall. This will only further harm more than one million students in our state. It will be especially harmful to younger students, low income students, special needs students, minority students and rural students – all of who will fall further and further behind those students who have better access to technology.
Please help me get this important information out to parents and teachers. Our kids are counting on us to end the mass hysteria, return to common sense and reopen our schools.
As always, I look forward to your questions and comments.
Regards,
David Spring M. Ed.
spring for schools at gmail dot com