Meet the former NYT reporter who is challenging the coronavirus narrative

[dogs4thewin]

Look at what is happening nursing homes though. Once the virus gets in, you have potential for widespread death among the residents. At that point "staying home" is irrelevant.

and sense people can carry it without feeling ill that makes the whole stay home only if you are sick impossible because you do not know you are sick.

 

[expos4ever]

I know people might hate me, just give the article a chance please

Your credibility is basically shot - in another thread you suggest we should all gather in churches.

That is pure, unmitigated lunacy.

 

[Sparagmos]

Now he’s turned to challenging the narratives on the response to the coronavirus. What Berenson is promoting isn’t coronavirus denialism, or conspiracy theories about plots to curb liberties. Instead what Berenson is claiming is simple: the models guiding the response were wrong and that it is becoming clearer by the day.

....

"In February I was worried about the virus. By mid-March I was more scared about the economy. But now I’m starting to get genuinely nervous," he tweeted this week. "This isn’t complicated. The models don’t work. The hospitals are empty. WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT INDEFINITE LOCKDOWNS?"

....................


"We believe that our health care delivery system in the United States is quite extraordinary," Dr. Deborah Birx said at a White House press briefing on Wednesday. "I know many of you are watching the Act Now model and the IHME model— and they have consistently decreased the number, the mortality from over almost 90,000 or 86,000, down to 81,000 and now down to 61,000. That is modeled on what America is doing. That’s what’s happening."

Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the indicators are that social distancing efforts are working: "Because remember, what you do with data will always outstrip a model. You redo your models, depending upon your data, and our data is telling us that mitigation is working."

But Berenson argues that those models have social distancing and other measures baked into them. As for further proof, he says that outside of places like New York there has not been a national health crisis that was predicted -- nor are there signs that the level of lockdown in various states has made a difference.
Meet the former NYT reporter who is challenging the coronavirus narrative

I just can’t believe that guy is talking about empty hospitals when medical workers are desperate for equipment and help. There’s a bunch of other questionable stuff in there but spreading the “empty hospital” conspiracy theory tells me this guy is a hack.

 

[Subduction Zone]

A Detroit hospital has been so overwhelmed by the influx of Covid-19 patients that at least 2 people have died in its emergency room hallways before help can arrive, health care workers there told CNN.

This illustrates why one must act before Covid-19 is a problem. Reacting after the fact is too late.

Though we seem to have a handle on it in Washington state, mild growth instead of uncontrolled exponential growth, it is sadly still too early to release the limitations on the population as a whole.

Personally I do hope that they start with a lessening of the limitations. It would be disastrous to totally remove limitations even if it is "controlled" here.

 

[SummerMadness]

My sister has been working in several hospitals across the midwest, the virus is real and there are more people coming in sick. The people proclaiming there is no danger have no proximity to the virus and likely have no proximity because social distancing helped stop the spread.

 

[cow451]

We are smarter than those people are treating us.

Who is “we”?

 

[charsan]

Maybe no one

 

[cow451]

Maybe no one

Speak for yourself.

 

[Hazelelponi]

Be that as it may, I would rather believe him than some un elected person trying to scare us with lies and ruining the economy and freedom in America

It's true the models have consistently been wrong and this guy is right, they took social distancing into consideration with all models...

And it's true that without any elective surgeries or non-emergency patients many if not most hospitals, even some hospitals in New York state are having to place some of their employees (nurses etc) on furlough.

That is something we never expected...

 

[loveofourlord]

Is economy and freedom more important than individual lives?

How much death is an increase to the GDP worth to you?

Well as I've been saying for weeks now, they wrongly assume that the economy won't be destroyed or at least strongly hurt by large portion of the work force sick, dying or dead, or just not being paid enough to risk their lives.

 

[Ada Lovelace]

Nope, that is baked into the numbers. Even Stanford is looking at the possibility that the virus was here in the fall last year and we were fine then. No one needs to stay home unless they are sick or vulnerable.

Stanford was the first university in the United States to cancel in-person classes and transition them online; prohibit larger social gatherings; mandate quarantines for all returning from abroad; evacuate student housing with only those in exceptional circumstances being permitted to remain; and convert as many on-campus jobs as possible into at-home ones. The administration made this decision two days after Matt Gaetz theatrically wore a gas mask on the House floor to vote on a bill dedicating emergency funding to combatting COVID-19. One of the conundrums of public health is the very same action that might seem like a drastic overreaction early in a crisis could end up being woefully inadequate if you wait too long. Soon other colleges across the country followed suit. The entirety of the spring quarter is being held online. All residential programs for the summer have also been canceled, and those classes will be online too. Students begin applying for competitive summer internships and fellowships at the start of the year, since they are a requirement for most degree programs. The university instructed us to cancel all summer opportunities unless they are online. Our September programs have also been canceled. For the three weeks prior to the fall quarter there's residential programs for special interest studies, but not this year. We're bracing for strong possibility the fall quarter could be online too.

Stanford Medicine, which is conducting the first coronavirus seroprevalence study in the United States helped to guide Stanford University's administration in making the decisions outlined above. They also were in ongoing consultation with Dr. Sara Cody, the doctor who ordered America's first coronavirus lockdown. The infectious disease expert who is co-leading the study is my professor; I've actually discussed him here numerous times in the past in regards to another topic. He's said we don't really know if the epidemic is impending Armageddon, which is why it's imperative to reduce uncertainty and that is only possible with numbers. Right-wing sites reporting on some commentary he's made have done so selectively, omitting crucial details. He's not interested in acting on "feelings" or conjecture but data, which has been severely limited thus far due to colossal failures in preparation for this pandemic, the testing debacle being a colossal one. The other is the ongoing shortage of PPE and other supplies such as collection tubes. He realized the hundreds of volunteers who ran the study were risking their own health.

More than 3200 people participated in the study, which was held last weekend, to be tested for COVID-19 antibodies. The tests were supplied by a biotech company. Antibody testing in Colorado that is now taking place was made possible due to another biotech company. China's highest government health agency developed their own test, which is comparable to the one used by Stanford.

We are smarter than those people are treating us.

No, we are not.

 

[Pommer]

What the OP is referring to is exactly what I feared: protective measures put in place to prevent the apocalypse and when the apocalypse doesn't happen, people question whether the measures were necessary in the first place.

It's like Y2K all over again.

Oh, the second wave of this might convince them,
~See you in September~

 

[MyLifeForChrist]

Nope, that is baked into the numbers. Even Stanford is looking at the possibility that the virus was here in the fall last year and we were fine then. No one needs to stay home unless they are sick or vulnerable. We are smarter than those people are treating us.

I also very much believe that this virus was here much earlier and that those who observed individuals traveling extensively in these current hotspots will corroborate this if they simply look back.

 

[Ada Lovelace]

I also very much believe that this virus was here much earlier and that those who observed individuals traveling extensively in these current hotspots will corroborate this if they simply look back.

No, there needs to be large-scale antibody blood tests to gather data and shape public health policy decisions accordingly rather than relying on people to self-diagnose based on their memories of symptoms they experienced.

 

[MyLifeForChrist]

I also very much believe that this virus was here much earlier and that those who observed individuals traveling extensively in these current hotspots will corroborate this if they simply look back.

No, there needs to be large-scale antibody blood tests to gather data and shape public health policy decisions accordingly rather than relying on people to self-diagnose based on their memories of symptoms they experienced.

The above has absolutely nothing to do with what I had offered.

 

[Ada Lovelace]

The above has absolutely nothing to do with what I had offered.

It literally has everything to do with what you offered.

 

[Larniavc]

Be that as it may, I would rather believe him than some un elected person trying to scare us with lies and ruining the economy and freedom in America

What about scientists- do you believe them? Of Hack novelists?

 

[iluvatar5150]

Be that as it may, I would rather believe him than some un elected person trying to scare us with lies and ruining the economy and freedom in America

Your standards for who to trust are extremely flawed.

 

[mmksparbud]

The hospitals are empty.

What hospitals? What part of the hospitals? They are keeping everyone out as much as possible so how would he know? He can't just wander around the hospitals, he'd get kicked out! Talk to ambulance drivers and firefighters. I've heard more ambulances in the last 3 weeks than I had heard in the last five years! My friend has family in New York, firefighter and 2 nurses. The firefighter was almost in tears---and so were the nurses. They don't have enough ventilators in ICU. The morgues are full, they are having to use refrigerated trucks to cram the bodies into and there are bodies in bags in lesser used areas of the hospitals waiting for a refrigerated area. The nurses were worn out. This is not described in the news. The victims are all ages, including the very young and there are more blacks and the older also.
This guy hasn't a clue.

 

[KCfromNC]

I also very much believe that this virus was here much earlier and that those who observed individuals traveling extensively in these current hotspots will corroborate this if they simply look back.

Believing something, even "very much" doesn't make it real.