Since the Covid pandemic began, our country’s response, indeed most of the world’s response has been focused on containing the health consequences of the virus. Initially this was appropriate as we knew little about the disease, ie how easily it spread, who was vulnerable, etc.

Now, we know much more. The CDC recently acknowledged that a mere 6% of Covid deaths were due to Covid alone. The other 94% had on average 2.6 additional co-morbidities. Additionally, per the CDC 72.9% of deaths were of people age 65 or over.

1. http://cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr …
2.

The CDC data as of 8/28/20 also indicates a total of 337 deaths of kids age 25 and younger. We know who the most vulnerable are. They are the elderly and those with multiple additional co-morbidities. We also know kids need the structure, discipline & socialization of classrooms.

This is clear. This is from the New England Journal of Medicine.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMms2024920?articleTools=true

Now, about masks. Very simply, some masks protect the wearer from breathing in droplets in the air. Other masks protect others from droplets the wearer exhales. https://www.umms.org/coronavirus/what-to-know/masks/mask-types

We are being told to wear masks that prevent the spread of virus laden droplets to protect others. But to be effective, a mask must be fitted properly to contain virus laden aerosols. Next time you’re out look at how poorly fitted the masks are you see others wearing.

Yes, they may prevent the spread of droplets expelled from coughs or sneezes but they do virtually nothing to contain the aerosols you exhale with each breath. If you’re infected, these aerosols are expelled with each breath and your mask does virtually nothing to protect others.

So, in summary here, we know who the most vulnerable are. It’s the elderly and those with multiple co-morbitities. It is not the youth. But in spite of this, there are those who insist on nation wide lockdowns, masks for everyone and shutting down schools.

This is just not a reasonable response in view of the economic and social consequences. We have had enough time to gather data on the social costs of such one sided policies. Suicides, drug overdoses, domestic abuse and poverty are all skyrocketing.

Read some of these. These will continue years after Covid is better contained.
1. https://fee.org/articles/4-life-threatening-unintended-consequences-of-the-lockdowns/
2. https://fee.org/articles/a-years-worth-of-suicide-attempts-in-four-weeks-the-unintended-consequences-of-covid-19-lockdowns/
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/drug-overdose-washington-coronavirus/2020/08/20/2a4c64b8-e0a4-11ea-ade1-28daf1a5e919_story.html
4. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/08/13/901627189/u-s-sees-deadly-drug-overdose-spike-during-pandemic
5. https://fee.org/articles/covid-crisis-could-push-100-million-people-into-extreme-poverty-new-world-bank-study-says/
6. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-08-18/radiology-study-suggests-horrifying-rise-in-domestic-violence-during-pandemic
7. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6932a1.htm

And these don’t even consider the number of heart attack victims and stroke victims who are too afraid to go to the hospital for fear of getting Covid. Nor do they address the number of women skipping routine mammograms, etc.

My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in late June 2019. She had a mastectomy in Aug and has had to have follow up reconstruction surgeries which have been significantly delayed due to postponement of elective procedures. Tell her getting her breast back is ‘elective’.

In view of all this, it’s simply reckless to pursue a one sided response that seeks to contain the spread of the virus & limit deaths w/out also considering the deaths & human suffering of these very same interventions. We need a balanced response that considers all the issues.

To that end, here is my balanced proposal, subject of course to modification and improvement.
1. Provide N95 masks to the elderly and those with multiple co-morbidities. A significant ramp up in production will be needed but we’ve done that with respirators, etc.

2. Encourage the most vulnerable to limit contacts
3. Make HCQ available if a patient and their Dr decide its appropriate
4. Get kids back into classrooms. This is critical. I didn’t even mention the achievement gap that will be exacerbated if we fail to do this.

5. Open back up economies. No more lockdowns. No more picking ‘winners and losers’. Open up.
6. Drop requirement for everyone else to wear a mask. Forcing everyone to wear a mask is worthless. The most vulnerable need to wear masks. Every one else does not.

7. Provide low cost or even free emotional health counseling for those effected by lockdowns. No more suicides, drug ODs, domestic abuse, etc due to Covid lockdowns.
8. Continue testing. We need to the know mortality rate.

9. Honestly report actual cases snd deaths. No more manipulating this.

Improve this where you can, but bottom line we need a balanced policy that addresses those sick with Covid but also protects and insulates those from the consequences from our healthcare interventions.