Opinion Piece by Dan Schultz – April 7, 2020 If you know people watching CNN or MSNBC and it’s scaring the hell out of them, please forward: Someone said to me today regarding the coronavirus “5,000 people have died in the US!!!” That’s sounds scary, doesn’t it? If there were 5000 physical dead bodies immediately surrounding you, that fear might be warranted. But that’s not the case. Let’s explore some facts that add a very important context to the matter. Context adds meaning to numbers. Context –5000 out of 330 million Americans — that’s a 0.00001515152 ratio, or .0015% of the population. Responding by devastating the country’s economy seems extreme, considering: –“Between 12,000 – 61,000 deaths annually since 2010” occur from the regular flu in the USA, according to the CDC (2) and the 5000 count is very questionable (more about that later) –You can read about “overwhelmed” hospitals in just about any year This Time Magazine article highlights the “overwhelm” of flu, long before COVID supposedly emerged. “The 2017-2018 influenza epidemic is sending people to hospitals and urgent-care centers in every state, and medical centers are responding with extraordinary measures: asking staff to work overtime, setting up triage tents, restricting friends and family visits and canceling elective surgeries, to name a few.” (3) And there are no overwhelmed hospitals in the US now. That may be reported, but does it make it any different than other years? More Context —48,000 deaths from suicides occurred in the US in 2018, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. — 67,000 deaths from overdose (4) of illicit or prescription drugs (not including alcohol abuse) occurred in 2018 —130,000 deaths (about 4.5% of US annual deaths) due to poverty. (5) Are there drastic efforts to save those lives? Even if it were 5000 deaths that could verifiably be attributed to COVID, are massive social and economic ramifications (like loss of freedoms an unemployment) an appropriate response? EVEN More Context Millions suffering and 230,000 dead in Yemen: 22.2 of 22.7 million (7) in need of humanitarian aid; the largest humanitarian crisis of our time, according to the United Nations (8). Recently the US and Saudi Arabia bombed this country into oblivion, where there are millions of cholera cases —58% children. There was, and still is, virtually a media blackout. (9) You probably haven’t even heard of it Millions died in Iraq, Libya and throughout Middle East recently, but you don’t hear about their death count. The US and NATO bombed Libya into the stone age. You know “We came, we saw, he died, hahahhahahah.” It is now a failed State (10). Their prominent economy is now slavery (11). Seems worthy of headlines but it barely makes the paper. MAKES YOU WONDER why millions upon millions of deaths (millions more suffering) get little, sometimes even no coverage from our hardworking, scoop-finding journalists in the MSM, but minute by minute we’re kept up to date on the latest “death toll” NOW SKYROCKETED TO 5,000! –a statistically small, if not insignificant, number – and is plastered as headlines across the country to create fear. Please STOP watching the mainstream media. It is evidently either folly or agenda, or both, however you want to look at it. Find independent news sources that are more relevant and honest. One I can suggest is the Corbett Report / www.corbettreport.com. Find some solace and clarity (with uncomfortable truths) in a voice of reason; Recommended, recent Corbett Report podcasts What's Up With The Italian Mortality Rate? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM9aZflBoOU What's Up With The Italian Mortality Rate? (video 21:23) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dslfuSBY2U The Totally Spontaneous Health Worker Balcony Applause Phenomenon (video 19:11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlTHjAuqRHs&t=14s The Greatest Depression (video 53:55) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYgFyB0lCt4&t=30s Digital Dollars and Technocracy on Steroids (video 20:11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrKzCQdgixs&t=23s How to Practice Proper Social Distancing (video 20:44) Subscribe to his channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/corbettreport/videos This channel is heavily censored (hard to find) on YouTube References: 1. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Disease Burden of Influenza https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html 2. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Disease Burden of Influenza https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html 3. Time Magazine. Here's Why the Flu Is Especially Bad This Year January 17, 2018 https://time.com/5105929/why-is-the-flu-so-bad-2018/ 4. Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 1999–2018 NCHS Data Brief No. 356, January 2020 Holly Hedegaard, M.D., Arialdi M. Miniño, M.P.H., and Margaret Warner, Ph.D. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db356.htm 5. How Many U.S. Deaths are Caused by Poverty, Lack of Education, and Other Social Factors? Columbia University Irving Medical Center Jul. 05 2011 https://www.mailman.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/how-many-us-deaths-are-caused-poverty-lack-education-and-other-social-factors 6. Wikipedia . 2016–2020 Yemen cholera outbreak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%80%932020_Yemen_cholera_outbreak 7. Al Jezeera. Number of cholera cases in Yemen hits one million: Red Cross says more than 80 percent of population lack adequate access to food, clean water, and healthcare. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/number-cholera-cases-yemen-hits-million-171221094230526.html 8. Wikipedia. United Nations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations 9. Vox “The war in Yemen — a bloody, ongoing conflict in which the US has played an important role — has fallen out of the news.” https://www.vox.com/2019/1/30/18203857/yemen-war-deaths-injured-chart-intelligence 10. The National Interest. Libya is Dead 01/20/2020 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/skeptics/libya-dead-115431 11. USA Today. Africans are being sold at Libyan slave markets. Thanks, Hillary Clinton. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/11/27/clinton-ponders-2020-run-lets-not-forget-her-real-libya-scandal-glenn-reynolds-column/895853001/ Regards, Dan Schultz Maitreya Mountain Village www.maitreyamountainvillage.com (707) 954-7743 Attachments area Preview YouTube video What's Up With The Italian Mortality Rate? – Questions For Corbett What's Up With The Italian Mortality Rate? – Questions For Corbett Preview YouTube video The Totally Spontaneous Health Worker Balcony Applause Phenomenon – #PropagandaWatch The Totally Spontaneous Health Worker Balcony Applause Phenomenon – #PropagandaWatch Preview YouTube video The Greatest Depression The Greatest Depression Preview YouTube video Digital Dollars and Technocracy on Steroids – #NewWorldNextWeek Digital Dollars and Technocracy on Steroids – #NewWorldNextWeek Preview YouTube video How to Practice Proper Social Distancing – #PropagandaWatch How to Practice Proper Social Distancing – #PropagandaWatch