END THE HARMFUL COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS- Letters to Government and Media to 15Nov2020
End the Covid-19 Lockdowns – Harmful, Unjustified, Ineffective, as I published on 21Mar2020
Following are copies of my first series of emails to Alberta and Canadian governments and “mostly bought” mainstream media advising against the harmful, unjustified and ineffective Covid-19 Lockdowns, as I first published ~four days into the Lockdowns on 21Mar2020. None of these extreme measures were ever justified - that was obvious in Feb2020 based on quality data.
Government and media were informed of their egregious misdeeds - they knew.
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: November-15-20 3:00 AM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW - 15. WHY DRACONIAN MEASURES MAY NOT WORK: TWO EXPERTS SAY WE SHOULD PRIORITIZE THOSE AT RISK FROM COVID-19 THAN TO TRY TO CONTAIN THE UNCONTAINABLE
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Subject: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW – 15
Just yesterday I received the following 15March2020 article from the National Post. Written by two recognized Canadian infectious diseases specialists, it reaches essentially the same conclusions as my comments of 21&22March2020: NO general lockdown for Covid-19, but over-protect the elderly and infirm. “The economic and social costs of pursuing quarantine are staggering and actually counter-productive.”
I can understand the reluctance of the Alberta government to hear me on the subject of Covid-19 and contagion policy – my expertise is energy and climate and my accomplishments are world-class, but apart from one paper I co-authored in 2015 I am not an authority on contagion. However, I cannot understand the reluctance of the Alberta government to hear these recognized world-class contagion experts, who published the same week as I did in March2020 and reached identical, correct conclusions that recommended against the Covid-19 lockdown.
The Covid-19 lockdown has done much more harm than good – it has resulted in many times more years-of-life-lost than the no-lockdown alternative. The lockdown sacrificed the lives of the young to death and despair while failing to adequately protect the elderly and infirm. It destroyed the economy and countless businesses and the lives of their employees and their owners. Opioid deaths in Alberta and BC ~doubled, families were severely stressed, young adults and the poor were especially harmed. The lockdown caused the delay for months of critical diagnostic tests and elective surgeries and created major backlogs in our health system. The lockdown enabled the Covid-19 illness to live on into the current flu season, rather than allow it to die out over the summer as seasonal flu’s often do. The lockdown cost many lives and many billions with no net benefit – it was a costly failure.
Sweden and South Dakota were among the only states that managed Covid-19 rationally – the rest of the world panicked and hugely over-reacted, and continue to do so. The damage from the lockdown is huge and largely irreparable, and yet the failed lockdown policies continue. One wonders how so many people could get it so wrong, and continue to err so egregiously to this day.
Regards, Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
Calgary
Post Script:
I just searched and found another article by the doctors dated 21May2020, reiterating their recommendations:
OPINION: WE ARE INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERTS. IT'S TIME TO LIFT THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS
Canada needs a hospital capacity-based approach to guide local lifting and reintroduction of restrictive measures as necessary
By Dr. Neil Rau, Dr. Susan Richardson, Dr. Martha Fulford and Dr. Dominik Mertz, National Post, May 21, 2020
WHY DRACONIAN MEASURES MAY NOT WORK: TWO EXPERTS SAY WE SHOULD PRIORITIZE THOSE AT RISK FROM COVID-19 THAN TO TRY TO CONTAIN THE UNCONTAINABLE
Testing and tracking down contacts is ultimately futile for this virus, as it devotes enormous resources to finding cases that are largely mild and spontaneously resolving
By Dr. Neil Rau and Dr. Susan Richardson, Special to National Post, March 15, 2020
[excerpt]
But can COVID-19 really be contained? COVID-19 stopped following the SARS script weeks ago and appears similar to many respiratory viruses. COVID-19, along with the four “common cold” coronaviruses, spread easily from person to person with mild disease, and sometimes from people before they develop symptoms. It is practically impossible to contain a virus that readily spreads early in the course of infection and circulates in the community. The highest concentration, and therefore transmissibility, of COVID-19 in nasal secretions peaks in the first few days of infection. SARS was different: it was transmitted most efficiently in the late stages of the infection. Therefore, using the SARS model to identify patients with the symptoms of COVID-19 is bound to fail. Moreover, it’s hard to pick out COVID-19 cases from those caused by other respiratory viruses also seen at this time of year. Testing and tracking down contacts is ultimately futile for this virus, as it devotes enormous resources to finding cases that are largely mild and spontaneously resolving.
COVID-19 stopped following the SARS script weeks ago and appears similar to many respiratory viruses
Now, quarantine, in its various forms, is being deployed as an ever-expanding strategy, from “self-isolation,” to broad travel restrictions and school closures. This sledgehammer approach will affect mainly able-bodied workers, children and students, for whom a COVID-19 infection will be nothing more than a cold. It will put a huge segment of the workplace out of commission, including health-care workers, at a time when we need them most.
The WHO containment ideal requires a huge societal sacrifice from those at low risk, to prevent it spreading to those at high risk. Sacrifices include the avoidance of foreign travel (strangely, this continues even after the disease is locally present), in addition to the cancellation of large events such as concerts, cultural events, sporting events and conferences. Tourism and service industries suffer. The stock market plummets. School closures are disruptive and costly to parents who really cannot work from home. Higher education closures affect students’ abilities to complete or pay for their education if their exams don’t finish on time. Disinfecting surfaces at random in public places is resource intensive, costly and promotes a false sense of security.
We should instead be targeting significant resources toward the protection of those at highest risk (the elderly, those with underlying chronic diseases and those with immune-compromising conditions) and maintaining a healthy, robust, responsive health-care system that can handle a potential surge. The economic and social costs of pursuing quarantine are staggering and actually counter-productive.
COVID-19 shows no signs of slowing down yet and has finally been declared a pandemic by the WHO. While China’s outbreak wanes, multiple outbreaks are emerging around the globe. These outbreaks follow a similar pattern: initial cases are linked to travel or travel-related cases from known geographic areas of involvement, followed by a rapid spread into the community. Cruise ship, nursing home and university campus outbreaks abound — SARS never did any of this. The WHO’s goal of stopping a respiratory virus that generates two to three new cases from each case has been compared with trying to stop the wind. The genie is out of the bottle.
National Post
Dr. Neil Rau is an infectious diseases specialist and medical microbiologist in private practice in Oakville, Ont. He is also an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Susan Richardson is a retired infectious diseases specialist and medical microbiologist. She headed the Ontario Laboratory Working Group for the Rapid Diagnosis of Emerging Infections during the 2003 SARS outbreak. She is a professor emerita at the University of Toronto.
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: November-07-20 2:08 PM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW - 14. CDC: OF THE ~200,000 AMERICAN DEATHS ATTRIBUTED TO COVID-19, ONLY ABOUT 6% WERE ACTUALLY CAUSED SOLELY BY THE CORONA (COVID-19) VIRUS.
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Subject: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW – 14
Now, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the severity and the death toll of the Covid-19 flu were greatly exaggerated.
It is also clear that many of the Excess Deaths that occurred during the Covid-19 Lockdown were NOT due to Covid-19, but were a direct result of the full-Gulag Lockdown, which caused so much economic hardship, social disruption and despair. In Alberta and BC, just the INCREASE in opioid deaths was equal or greater than the total deaths from Covid-19, according to provincial government statistics (#11 below).
In Alberta, the average age of opioid deaths is mid-30’s while the average age of Covid-19 deaths is 78 – so the “years-of-life-lost” due to the Covid-19 lockdown is huge.
This Covid-19 lockdown has done much more harm than good. It was clear by March 2020 that Covid-19 was a relatively mild flu, except for the very elderly and infirm.
The lockdown has killed more people than the Covid-19 illness, trashed the economy, extended the life of the virus into the new flu season, and caused enormous hardship.
As I published on 21March2020, the full-Gulag Lockdown for Covid-19 was a huge over-reaction that should never have happened.
My conclusions of March 2020 were correct – END THIS DESTRUCTIVE LOCKDOWN NOW AND DON’T DO IT AGAIN.
LET’S CONSIDER AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH:
Isolate people over sixty-five and those with poor immune systems and return to business-as-usual for people under sixty-five.
This will allow “herd immunity” to develop much sooner and older people will thus be more protected AND THE ECONOMY WON’T CRASH.
22March2020
This full-lockdown scenario is especially hurting service sector businesses and their minimum-wage employees - young people are telling me they are "financially under the bus". The young are being destroyed to protect us over-65's. A far better solution is to get them back to work and let us oldies keep our distance, and get "herd immunity" established ASAP - in months not years. Then we will all be safe again.
Regards, Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
______________________________________
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC):
COMORBIDITIES PLAYED A HUGE ROLE IN DEATHS: OF THE ~200,000 AMERICAN DEATHS ATTRIBUTED TO COVID-19, ONLY ABOUT 6% WERE DUE SOLELY TO COVID-19.
Excerpt from 2:42 in the above video – Table 3:
CDC Data: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm
_____________________________________________
DID THE WHO JUST (ACCIDENTALLY) CONFIRM COVID IS NO MORE DANGEROUS THAN FLU?
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/did-who-just-accidentally-confirm-covid-no-more-dangerous-flu?
by Tyler Durden
Thu, 10/08/2020 - 18:10
Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,
The World Health Organization has finally confirmed what we (and many experts and studies) have been saying for months – the coronavirus is no more deadly or dangerous than seasonal flu.
The WHO’s top brass made this announcement during a special session of the WHO’s 34-member executive board on Monday October 5th, it’s just nobody seemed to really understand it.
In fact, they didn’t seem to completely understand it themselves.
At the session, Dr Michael Ryan, the WHO’s Head of Emergencies revealed that they believe roughly 10% of the world has been infected with Sars-Cov-2.
This is their “best estimate”, and a huge increase over the number of officially recognised cases (around 35 million).
Dr. Margaret Harris, a WHO spokeswoman, later confirmed the figure, stating it was based on the average results of all the broad seroprevalence studies
done around the world.
As much as the WHO were attempting to spin this as a bad thing – Dr Ryan even said it means “the vast majority of the world remains at risk.” – it’s actually good news. And confirms, once more, that the virus is nothing like as deadly as everyone predicted.
That’s an infection fatality rate of roughly or 0.14%.
Right in line with seasonal flu and the predictions of many experts from all around the world.
0.14% is over 24 times LOWER than the WHO’s “provisional figure” of 3.4% back in March. This figure was used in the models which were used to justify lockdowns and other draconian policies.
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: October-27-20 4:14 AM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW - 13. I called it correctly on 21March2020 – NO COVID-19 LOCKDOWN – FACE MASKS ARE CONSIDERED INEFFECTIVE AND EVEN HARMFUL – ESPECIALLY TO SCHOOL CHILDREN
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Subject: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW - 13
FOLLOWING ARE SIX REFERENCES THAT ADVISE AGAINST THE WEARING OF FACE MASKS – WHICH ARE CONSIDERED INEFFECTIVE AND EVEN HARMFUL – ESPECIALLY TO SCHOOL CHILDREN.
This is just one more example of the huge over-reaction to the Covid-19 illness, a relatively mild flu that was only significantly dangerous to the very elderly and infirm. I correctly published that conclusion on 21&22March2020 and advised against the full-Gulag lockdown, which has proven extraordinarily costly AND ineffective - as proved by Sweden. The Covid-19 lockdown has done many times more harm than good, especially to the young and the poor worldwide.
The ability to correctly predict is the best objective measure of scientific competence, and my predictive track record is infinitely better than that of most scientific organizations and government bodies on a range of subjects (see Issue 7, sent 11Oct2020 below). The Lockdown should never have started, and should have ended by end-March 2020 before so much harm was done.
There might have been an early case for the ~emptying of hospitals to make space for the anticipated “tsunami of Covid-19 cases” THAT NEVER ARRIVED, but that decision was clearly wrong and should have been reversed by ~31March2020. Similarly, the Covid-19 full-lockdown was an error and should have ended by ~31March2020, yet has dragged on until now. Note below that the timing and magnitude of total deaths from Covid-19 is not significantly different for full-lockdown Canada and no-lockdown Sweden – that observation proves my point: The never was an adequate justification for the Covid-19 lockdown.
THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN HAS DONE ENORMOUS HARM, IS STILL DOING GREAT HARM, SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED, AND SHOULD CEASE IMMEDIATELY.
Regards, Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
Calgary
MASKS ARE NEITHER EFFECTIVE NOR SAFE: A SUMMARY OF THE SCIENCE
https://www.technocracy.news/masks-are-neither-effective-nor-safe-a-summary-of-the-science/
UPDATED: THE MISERABLE PSEUDO-SCIENCE BEHIND FACE MASKS, SOCIAL DISTANCING AND CONTACT TRACING
BLAYLOCK: FACE MASKS POSE SERIOUS RISKS TO THE HEALTHY
https://www.technocracy.news/blaylock-face-masks-pose-serious-risks-to-the-healthy/
FLASHBACK 2016: FACE MASKS DIDN’T WORK THEN, EITHER
https://www.technocracy.news/flashback-2016-face-masks-didnt-work-then-either/
SWEDEN’S SENIOR EPIDEMIOLOGIST: WEARING FACE MASKS IS “VERY DANGEROUS”
https://www.technocracy.news/swedens-senior-epidemiologist-wearing-face-masks-is-very-dangerous/
GERMAN NEUROLOGIST ON FACE MASKS: ‘OXYGEN DEPRIVATION CAUSES PERMANENT NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE’
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: October-26-20 8:48 PM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW - 12. I called it correctly on 21March2020 – NO COVID-19 LOCKDOWN – ALLIANCE OF INTERNATIONAL DOCTORS DECLARED CORONAVIRUS IS A SCAM
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Subject: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW - 12
I know the first two videos by the international team of doctors are correct – because I published the same correct conclusions seven months ago on 21&22March2020, and I don’t publish unless the data is conclusive. Whether the full-Lockdown for Covid-19 is a scam or a really foolish error, IT SHOULD END NOW!
I have no informed opinion on the German Neurologist’s statements, but A PRUDENT POLICY DECISION WOULD BE TO END ALL FACE MASKS ON CHILDREN IMMEDIATELY. There is NO evidence that masks do any good, and they may do significant harm, especially to children .
Regards, Allan MacRae
Calgary
ALLIANCE OF INTERNATIONAL DOCTORS DECLARED CORONAVIRUS IS A SCAM
https://rumble.com/vaorzp-alliance-of-international-doctors-declared-coronavirus-is-a-scam.html
Published October 15, 2020 (short version)
WORLD DOCTORS AGAINST THE CORONAVIRUS SCAM TAKE ACTION TO OBLITERATE THIS SCAM
Published October 24, 2020
GERMAN NEUROLOGIST ON FACE MASKS: ‘OXYGEN DEPRIVATION CAUSES PERMANENT NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE’
October 21, 2020
]excerpts]
FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS, MASKS ARE AN ABSOLUTE NO-NO. Children and adolescents have an extremely active and adaptive immune system and they need a constant interaction with the microbiome of the Earth. Their brain is also incredibly active, as it is has so much to learn. The child’s brain, or the youth’s brain, is thirsting for oxygen. The more metabolically active the organ is, the more oxygen it requires. In children and adolescents every organ is metabolically active.
To deprive a child’s or an adolescent’s brain from oxygen, or to restrict it in any way, is not only dangerous to their health, it is absolutely criminal. Oxygen deficiency inhibits the development of the brain, and the damage that has taken place as a result CANNOT be reversed.
The child needs the brain to learn, and the brain needs oxygen to function. We don’t need a clinical study for that. This is simple, indisputable physiology. CONSCIOUSLY AND PURPOSELY INDUCED OXYGEN DEFICIENCY IS AN ABSOLUTELY DELIBERATE HEALTH HAZARD, AND AN ABSOLUTE MEDICAL CONTRAINDICATION.
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: October-21-20 5:43 AM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW - 11. I called it correctly on 21March2020 – NO COVID-19 LOCKDOWN – IN ALBERTA AND BC, THERE WERE MORE THAN TWICE AS MANY DEATHS JUST FROM OPIOID POISONINGS THAN FROM COVID-19
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Subject: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW - 11
My Summary:
The Covid-19 lockdown is costing more lives, and costing many more “years of life lost”, than the No-Lockdown alternative practiced by Sweden.– the global lockdown for Covid-19 was a huge costly error that did much more harm than good. This enormously costly and destructive Covid-19 lockdown should end now!
In Alberta and BC, there were more than twice as many deaths just from opioid poisonings than from Covid-19, and the deaths from opioid poisoning were younger people, versus very elderly people who died from Covid-19. The INCREASE in opioid deaths due to the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown exceeded the TOTAL deaths from the Covid-19 flu! Add to this cost all the other harm caused by the lockdown to the health and lives of Canadians, especially younger and lower-income Canadians who were impoverished by the lockdown, and all the small businesses owners and employers who will not recover. The huge increase in opioid deaths due to the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown is a small fraction of the total harm done to Canadians by this erroneous lockdown.
In an unsuccessful attempt to extend the lives of the very elderly and infirm, the rest of the Canadian population AND the economy were devastated. The cost in “years of life lost” is huge, and that is just one true measure of the devastation to Canadian society caused by this massive over-reaction – an over-reaction to a virus that is NOT significantly dangerous to the workforce or schoolchildren and is only a serious threat to the very elderly and infirm.
In British Columbia the total number of Covid-19 deaths to ~30June2020 was 189, compared to a total of 728 drug overdose deaths.
In Alberta in the second quarter of 2020 (2Q2020), there were 161 deaths attributed to Covid-19 and 301 deaths from apparent unintentional opioid poisonings. .
In the first quarter of 2020 (1Q2020) there were 148 deaths in Alberta from apparent unintentional opioid poisonings. Overdose deaths DOUBLED to 301 in 2Q2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown, 153 MORE than in 1Q2020 and a new record. Much or all of this increase in drug overdose deaths can be attributed directly to the Covid-19 lockdown.
In 1Q and 2Q2020, 79 per cent of apparent unintentional drug poisoning deaths in Alberta related to fentanyl were among males. Among males, the age group to see the highest proportion of deaths was 35 to 39 years, and among females, 30 to 34 years.
In 2Q2020 there were 161 deaths in Alberta attributed to Covid-19, almost equal to the 153 INCREASED drug-overdose deaths in 2Q2020 that are attributed to the Covid-19 lockdown.
In the six months to 29September2020 there were 292 deaths in Alberta attributed to Covid-19 and the average age of death was 82 years old – most of those who died of Covid-19 were typically in the last years or months of their lives.
In conclusion, the Covid-19 lockdown in Alberta and BC has cost many more “years of life lost” due to opioid poisoning alone, not counting all the other enormous social and economic costs of this erroneous lockdown. Based on the Swedish experience, there is no evidence that the lockdown saved lives – Canadian experience shows that the lockdown cost many more lives than it saved - and the lockdown also extended the life of the virus into the new flu season, destroyed the economy and did enormous harm to countless lives. End this costly, destructive lockdown error now!
- Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
DATA
THE COVID-19 SHUTDOWN WILL COST AMERICANS MILLIONS OF YEARS OF LIFE
By Dr. Scott W. Atlas, Dr. John R. Birge, Dr. Ralph L Keeney and Dr. Alexander Lipton 25May2020
[excerpt]
Our governmental COVID-19 mitigation policy of broad societal lockdown focuses on containing the spread of the disease at all costs, instead of “flattening the curve” and preventing hospital overcrowding. Although well-intentioned, the lockdown was imposed without consideration of its consequences beyond those directly from the pandemic.
The policies have created the greatest global economic disruption in history, with trillions of dollars of lost economic output. These financial losses have been falsely portrayed as purely economic. To the contrary, using numerous National Institutes of Health Public Access publications, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and various actuarial tables, we calculate that these policies will cause devastating non-economic consequences that will total millions of accumulated years of life lost in the United States, far beyond what the virus itself has caused.
COVID-19: DOES SWEDEN HAVE HERD IMMUNITY?
Sebastian Rushworth M.D., 19Sep2020
https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/09/19/covid-19-does-sweden-have-herd-immunity/
[excerpt]
In my earlier article in August, I mentioned that after an initial peak that lasted for a month or so, from March to April, visits to the Emergency Room due to covid had been declining continuously, and deaths in Sweden had dropped from over 100 a day at the peak in April, to around five per day in August.
At the point in August when I wrote that article, I hadn’t seen a single covid patient in over a month. I speculated that Sweden had developed herd immunity, since the huge and continuous drop was happening in spite of the fact that Sweden wasn’t really taking any serious measures to prevent spread of the infection.
So, how have things developed in the six weeks since that first article? Well, as things stand now, I haven’t seen a single covid patient in the Emergency Room in over two and a half months.
COVID-19 IMPACTS ON UNINTENTIONAL OPIOID POISONING – HIGHLIGHTS
ALBERTA COVID-19 OPIOID RESPONSE SURVEILLANCE REPORT 2Q2020
September 2020
Source: https://www.alberta.ca/opioid-reports.aspx
[excerpt]
COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the lives of Albertans, with the closure of businesses and the changes in our everyday lives posing profound challenges to our mental health. For our vulnerable populations, including those struggling with substance use disorder, have faced even more adversity in accessing the supports and services they depend on, compounded by increasing stress and anxiety. This Q2 Report highlights the stark effect that COVID-19 has had when it comes to unintentional opioid poisoning. Alberta is not alone in this reality – British Columbia has reported similar findings and trends during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic and we anticipate similar findings in other jurisdictions, such as Ontario, which is in the preliminary stages of reporting.
Beginning in March 2020, the number of harms associated with opioid use began to increase significantly, reaching record levels not previously seen, in conjunction with a decrease in the utilization of treatment and harm reduction services. Some key findings include:
• The most up-to-date data shows that 449 people have died from an apparent unintentional opioid poisoning so far in the first six months of 2020.
• In the second quarter of 2020, 301 individuals died of an unintentional opioid poisoning.
• On average, in the first six months of 2020, 2.5 individuals died every day in Alberta as a result of an unintentional opioid poisoning.
• In the most recent quarter, 284 people died from an apparent unintentional fentanyl-related poisoning, compared to 130 people in the previous quarter.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, provincial efforts to reduce unintentional opioid poisoning deaths had been having a positive impact. For example, there was an 8.6% decrease in the number of unintentional opioid deaths in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019. Alberta’s government is saddened to see the impact of the pandemic on opioid fatalities during Q2 2020 and remains committed to ensuring access to a world-class, publicly funded continuum of care, spanning from prevention, intervention, to treatment and recovery.
COVID-19 ALBERTA STATISTICS
Interactive aggregate data on COVID-19 cases in Alberta
https://www.alberta.ca/stats/covid-19-alberta-statistics.htm
BRITISH COLUMBIA - OVERDOSE RESPONSE INDICATOR REPORT. SEPTEMBER 2020
DRUG OVERDOSE DEATHS FAR EXCEED COVID-19 IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
July 21, 2020
Since January 728 overdose deaths, 189 COVID deaths
https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2020/07/21/drug-overdose-deaths-far-exceed-covid-19-in-british-columbia/
In Canada’s west coast province of British Columbia, deaths from overdoses of drugs have hit record levels in May and June.
In May there were 170 overdose deaths, June recorded 175, which is a new record and represents a 130 per cent increase over June 2019. The total number of COVID deaths this year in the province is 189, with no new deaths reported compared to a total of 728 overdose deaths this year.
BC COVID-19 DATA
http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/data
From: Dr. Larry
Sent: October-20-20 1:00 AM
To: Allan MacRae
Subject: Drug overdose deaths far exceed COVID-19 in British Columbia – RCI | English
https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2020/07/21/drug-overdose-deaths-far-exceed-covid-19-in-british-columbia/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53954964
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: October-18-20 6:25 AM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 10. I called it correctly on 21March2020 – NO COVID-19 LOCKDOWN – “DISSENTING SCIENTISTS ISSUE COVID-19 HERD IMMUNITY DECLARATION” - THE GREAT BARRINGTON DECLARATION
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Subject: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 10
Eminent epidemiologists Dr. Gupta (Oxford), Dr. Bhattacharya (Stanford) and Dr. Kulldorff (Harvard) met in Massachusetts to plan a better response to the pandemic.
“DISSENTING SCIENTISTS ISSUE COVID-19 HERD IMMUNITY DECLARATION” - THE GREAT BARRINGTON DECLARATION
This 32-minute video by the three originators of the Great Barrington Declaration explains their position – the first ~ten minutes summarizes their recommendations.
For brevity, you can read essentially the same message, which I published in March 2020 (below) – it was not that difficult a call, even then:
LET’S CONSIDER AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH:
Isolate people over sixty-five and those with poor immune systems and return to business-as-usual for people under sixty-five.
This will allow “herd immunity” to develop much sooner and older people will thus be more protected AND THE ECONOMY WON’T CRASH.
22March2020
This full-lockdown scenario is especially hurting service sector businesses and their minimum-wage employees - young people are telling me they are "financially under the bus". The young are being destroyed to protect us over-65's. A far better solution is to get them back to work and let us oldies keep our distance, and get "herd immunity" established ASAP - in months not years. Then we will all be safe again.
THE GREAT BARRINGTON DECLARATION BY PROFESSORS GUPTA, BHATTACHARYA AND KULLDORFF
https://unherd.com/2020/10/covid-experts-there-is-another-way/?pt
COVID EXPERTS: THERE IS ANOTHER WAY
Three eminent epidemiologists met in Massachusetts to plan a better response to the pandemic
BY SUNETRA GUPTA, JAY BHATTACHARYA AND MARTIN KULLDORFF
Dr Sunetra Gupta is a professor at Oxford University, an epidemiologist with expertise in immunology, vaccine development, and mathematical modelling of infectious diseases
Dr Bhattacharya is a professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician, epidemiologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations.
Dr Kulldorff is a Professor of medicine at Harvard University, a biostatistician, and epidemiologist with expertise in detecting and monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety evaluations.
As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical, and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.
“This is the saner approach, the more scientific approach,” the authors tell Freddie Sayers.
Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.
Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.
Fortunately, our understanding of the virus is growing. We know that vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.
As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.
The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.
Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19. By way of example, nursing homes should use staff with acquired immunity and perform frequent PCR testing of other staff and all visitors. Staff rotation should be minimized. Retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home. When possible, they should meet family members outside rather than inside. A comprehensive and detailed list of measures, including approaches to multi-generational households, can be implemented, and is well within the scope and capability of public health professionals.
Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.
Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 4th October 2020
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: October-17-20 6:41 AM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 9. I called it correctly on 21March2020 – NO COVID-19 LOCKDOWN – Now many competent physicians are saying the same thing.
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Subject: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 9
LETTER BY DR. STEPHEN MALTHOUSE, MD TO DR. BONNIE HENRY, B.C. PROVINCIAL HEALTH OFFICER
October 15, 2020
Dr. Bonnie Henry,
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, Ministry of Health,
1515 Blanshard Street. Victoria. BC V8W 3C9
Dear Dr. Henry,
I am a physician who has been in family medical practice in BC for more than 40 years and a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC since 1978.
I am writing this letter with the hope that you will be able to clarify the basis of your decision-making that has led our provincial government, health ministry, regional health officers, hospitals, medical staff, WorkSafe BC, businesses, and everyday citizens to follow pandemic policies that do not appear based on high-quality scientific research and, in fact, appear to be doing everyone a great deal of harm. 1
The early intent of mitigation measures to "flatten the curve", when we knew very little about SARS-CoV-2, its mode of transmission, and the severity of COVID-19, was reasonable. I believe that most physicians in Canada, myself included, whether active or retired, prepared themselves to take part on the front lines for the expected COVID-19 tsunami. Very soon it was apparent that the expected overwhelming of the hospital system was not going to occur, and now BC physicians have questions about the appropriateness of your public health policies.
The epidemiological evidence clearly shows that the "pandemic" is over and no second wave will follow. The evidence has been available for at least 4-5 months and is irrefutable.2-4 Yet, in spite of this substantial body of research, your office is perpetuating the narrative that a pandemic still exists and a second wave is expected. This false story is being used to justify public health policies that appear to have no health benefits, have already caused considerable harm, and threaten to create more harm in the future.
As you are aware, Sweden took an entirely different approach and, as of mid-September, their infection rate reached an all-time low and Covid-19 related deaths were at zero; 22 of 31 European countries, most of which enacted strict lockdowns, had higher infection rates. Sweden has also largely escaped the financial ruin and catastrophic mental health problems experienced in other countries, including Canada and the U.S.A.
Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, Montreal's medical officer, has stated "this COVID virus is much like the seasonal flu". A group of over 400 (now 600) Belgian doctors have stated "COVID is not a killer virus, but a treatable condition". Eighteen Canadian doctors wrote the Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, stating "your policies risk significantly harming our children with lifelong consequences".
The Ontario policies are very similar to those of British Columbia.
In 2011, a review of the literature by the British Columbia Centres for Disease Control that sought to evaluate the effectiveness of social distancing measures such as school closures, travel restrictions, and limitations on mass gatherings as a means to address an influenza pandemic concluded that "such drastic restrictions are not economically feasible and are predicted to delay viral spread, but not impact overall mortality". [Italics added]
Specifically, there appears to be no scientific or medical evidence for5--6
1. Self-isolation of asymptomatic people
2. social distancing
3. facemasks
4. arbitrary closure of businesses
5. closure of schools, daycares, park amenities, and playgrounds
6. the discontinuance of access to education, medical, dental, chiropractic, naturopathic, hearing, dietary, therapeutic, and other support for the physically and mentally disabled, particularly special needs children with neurological disorders
7. the closing down of or restrictions on religious places of worship.
According to the CDC Pandemic Severity Index, none of these measures have been warranted. The Great Barrington Declaration, signed by more than 30,000 health scientists and medical doctors from around the world, adds support for this statement.
Surprisingly, the recommendation for reducing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality by supplementing with vitamin D, a measure that is supported by high-quality research has been absent from your frequent public broadcasts and professional bulletins.7 Optimizing nutrition is a convenient, inexpensive, and safe method of improving immune resistance and has been confirmed through numerous studies for both prevention and treatment of COVID19. As far as I am aware, you have never mentioned something as simple as vitamin D supplements for our most vulnerable citizens. Yet, it was the promise to protect these same citizens that was used to justify the lockdown of a healthy population and the closure of businesses.
Why are you still using PCR testing? The Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Health in Ontario has publicly stated that the PCR test yields over 50% false positives. A New York Times investigative report found that PCR testing yields up to 90% false positives due to excessive amplification beyond the recommendations of the manufacturer. The PCR test was never designed, intended or validated to be used as a diagnostic tool. Even the Alberta Health Services COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group has stated "clinical sensitivity and specificity values have not been determined for lab developed RT-PCR testing in Canada".8 Despite expert consensus, you continue to use this inappropriate and inaccurate test to report so-called "cases" and justify your decisions.9- 18
The public health definition of a "case" is very broad. As all experienced doctors know, a "case" is a patient with significant symptoms who is often hospitalized. A "case" is not a person who simply has a questionably positive PCR test and presents with no symptoms or an unrelated diagnosis. Pictures of healthy young adults standing in line to get PCR tests, with a cell phone in one hand and a Starbucks coffee in the other, are everywhere in the media. These are not sick people and do not need testing.
Nevertheless, your public announcements repeatedly emphasize that the "case" counts are rising and we are in big trouble. Recently, "out-of-control" case counts were used to justify a second lockdown in Ontario and Quebec. Curfews have been put into place. People are being asked to risk their livelihoods to make sacrifices for the general good, based on Public Health's misrepresentation of "cases” as sick people.
Meanwhile, hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths from COVID-19 have dropped to pre-pandemic levels. Where are all the patients?
Why not simply tell the public that:
• the PCR testing is not reliable and is meaningless for diagnosing COVID-19
• positive PCR test results do not represent sick patients,
• rarely are people now becoming ill from SARS-CoV-2,
• provincial hospitals are essentially empty of COVID-19 patients,
• decisions should not be based on "cases" in the news,
• the morbidity/mortality of COVID-19 has not exceeded seasonal influenza,
• the median age of death from COVID-19 in Canada was 85 years,
• the pandemic is over, and
• no second wave is coming?
It is your duty as the provincial health officer to provide facts, not propaganda, and make every effort to stop the public panic. The only reason for emphasizing "cases" is to induce more fear and thereby compliance in the name of promised safety.
Why are children being pursued with a new rinse-and-spit saliva test that is also based on a worthless PCR test? Children have been terrorized and are being given the message that they can never be trusted not to infect their family and friends-essentially, that they are naturally bad. The insistence on covering their faces with masks, a proven useless and even harmful measure, only worsens this sense of shame. The psychological fallout from such messaging is going to be horrific. One only needs to walk down Main Street to already see the catastrophic effects of these messages on the mental and emotional health of families.
The excess death toll from partial lockdowns, social distancing and other public health measures is staggering. The Canadian media reports that provincial measures have been shown to create 12:1 more deaths than the virus; there has been a 40% increase in heart attack deaths in Canada from fear, anxiety and cancelled hospital procedures; suicide and drug overdose deaths have increased and outnumber COVID-19 deaths by a ratio of 3:1; suicides have doubled in BC since April; and anxiety and depression, food insecurity, domestic violence, and child abuse have skyrocketed. With unnecessary school closures, the ability of teachers to identify children subject to abuse and malnourishment has been curtailed. Many of our friends, family and patients died alone, terrified, and isolated against their will in facilities and nursing homes. That cruel policy was unjustified and inhuman.
How is it possible that a doctor with your previous training and experience did not anticipate the collateral damage of your public health policies - the economic disruption, the psychological and physical health consequences, and the deaths from despair?
The mainstream media has created a religion out of public health, one based on superstition, not science, with the power to rule over an obedient public. The news channels have raised you to almost saint-like status. Tea towels, shoes and murals have been designed to celebrate your accomplishments. Yet, your public directives do not make sense, contradict the research, and are causing people a great deal of harm. As a fellow doctor, I appeal to you to re-examine your policies and change direction before Public Health causes irreparable damage to our province's health and economic well-being. That about face will require you to meet the obligations of your office.
Sincerely,
Stephen Malthouse, MD
Member, College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia
[References deleted for brevity.]
A DOCTOR’S INSIGHTFUL STATEMENT FROM A PHYSICIAN’S FORUM ON THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN – webMD 15Oct2020:
The natural history of viruses indicates that herd immunity will happen one way or another. Measures put in place to control COVID-19 merely delay the natural progression of the virus. Human resistance to respiratory viruses is strongest in summer. With lock downs and masking in place during the summer, the northern hemisphere missed a tremendous opportunity. Instead, the decision to lock down and mask will create the dreaded second wave that is so feared.
COMPARE TO MY COMMENT TO THE TORONTO SUN EDITORIAL 1Oct2020:
Sweden correctly did not impose the full-Gulag lockdown and had lower death rates than many countries that did lockdown and has now achieved herd immunity. Forget vaccines, all flu's in history have died because herd immunity was reached.
Covid-19 was a relatively mild flu, only significantly dangerous to the very elderly and infirm. The full-Gulag lockdown was an enormous error (or scam?) that squandered trillions of dollars and harmed billions of low-income people. The lockdown trashed the lives of young people to protect those who were typically in the last months of their lives. It also destroyed millions of businesses worldwide and impoverished their owners. The lockdown also slowed herd immunity such that the Covid-19 virus will apparently survive into the next flu season. The lockdown cure was far worse than the disease – a total FAIL.
The Covid-19 pandemic was over in Canada by end-July2020, when deaths dropped to a very low level – Sweden with NO lockdown followed two weeks later. Watch this video by Ivor Cummins - his Covid-19 conclusions of 8Sep2020 agree with my conclusions of ~21Mar2020, almost 6 months earlier.
________________________________
THE FULL-GULAG COVID-19 LOCKDOWN WAS A HUGE FAIL FROM THE START, AND DOES MORE APPALLING DAMAGE EVERY DAY.
These “No-Lockdown” conclusions have NOT been contentious for many months – the Swedish No-Lockdown experience proves that the Covid-19 lockdown was a huge FAIL and the lockdown was NOT NECESSARY and was ENORMOUSLY HARMFUL – now governments seem to be engaged in a transparent attempt to double-down on their blunder.
It may come as a shock to many in government, but winter is here. At my daughter’s Junior-High School THEY ARE STILL EATING LUNCH AND TAKING GYM CLASSES OUTDOORS because of irrational Covid-19 lockdown measures. Students’ lockers are off-limits so kids are lugging 25-pound backpacks from class-to-class. The absence of literacy, numeracy and common sense in this government is appalling.
There was ample evidence to end the full-Gulag lockdown by 21March2020 – extending it until now demonstrates colossal incompetence – although I expect the Alberta NDP could have done even worse.
YOU HAVE BEEN WRONG FROM THE START - END THIS FOOLISH, DESTRUCTIVE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN NOW BEFORE YOU LOSE EVEN MORE PUBLIC SUPPORT.
Regards, Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
Calgary
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: October-11-20 6:59 PM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 8. I called it correctly on 21March2020 – NO COVID-19 LOCKDOWN – Now the World Health Organization (WHO) is saying the same thing
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Subject: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 8
I called it correctly on 21March2020 – NO COVID-19 LOCKDOWN – Now the World Health Organization (WHO) is saying the same thing:
“WHO OFFICIAL URGES HALT TO LOCKDOWNS AS PRIMARY CCP VIRUS CONTROL METHOD”
Interview with The World Health Organization’s special envoy on COVID-19 David Navarro, 8October2020
- article below.
Regards, Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
Calgary
ALLAN MACRAE 1Oct2020 – Comment posted in response to the Toronto Sun Editorial
Sweden correctly did not impose the full-Gulag lockdown and had lower death rates than many countries that did lockdown and has now achieved herd immunity. Forget vaccines, all flu's in history have died because herd immunity was reached.
Covid-19 was a relatively mild flu, only significantly dangerous to the very elderly and infirm. The full-Gulag lockdown was an enormous error (or scam?) that squandered trillions of dollars and harmed billions of low-income people. The lockdown trashed the lives of young people to protect those who were typically in the last months of their lives. It also destroyed millions of businesses worldwide and impoverished their owners. The lockdown also slowed herd immunity such that the Covid-19 virus will apparently survive into the next flu season. The lockdown cure was far worse than the disease – a total FAIL.
The Covid-19 pandemic was over in Canada by end-July2020, when deaths dropped to a very low level – Sweden with NO lockdown followed two weeks later. Watch this video by Ivor Cummins - his Covid-19 conclusions of 8Sep2020 agree with my conclusions of ~21Mar2020, almost 6 months earlier.
Repeating what I published six months ago:
LET’S CONSIDER AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH:
Isolate people over sixty-five and those with poor immune systems and return to business-as-usual for people under sixty-five.
This will allow “herd immunity” to develop much sooner and older people will thus be more protected AND THE ECONOMY WON’T CRASH.
22Mar2020
This full-lockdown scenario is especially hurting service sector businesses and their minimum-wage employees - young people are telling me they are "financially under the bus". The young are being destroyed to protect us over-65's. A far better solution is to get them back to work and let us oldies keep our distance, and get "herd immunity" established ASAP - in months not years. Then we will all be safe again.
___________
Note: I am an old guy in the higher-risk category - the lockdown did NOT protect me - all it did was hurt young people and low-income people, destroy businesses large and small, trash the economy and extend the life of the Covid-19 virus. Either our governments are incredibly incompetent or deliberately destructive.
________________________________________________________________
WHO OFFICIAL URGES HALT TO LOCKDOWNS AS PRIMARY CCP VIRUS CONTROL METHOD
BY Ivan Pentchoukov, October 11, 2020
The World Health Organization’s special envoy on COVID-19 has urged world leaders to stop using lockdowns as the primary control method against the spread of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.
“We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus,” David Nabarro told The Spectator in an interview aired on Oct. 8. “The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it.”
Nabarro pointed to the collateral damage that lockdowns are having worldwide, especially among poorer populations.
“Just look at what’s happened to the tourism industry, for example in the Caribbean or in the Pacific, because people aren’t taking their holidays. Look what’s happened to smallholder farmers all over the world because their markets have got dented. Look what’s happening to poverty levels. It seems that we may well have a doubling of world poverty by next year. Seems that we may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition because children are not getting meals at school and their parents, in poor families, are not able to afford it,” Nabarro said.
“This is a terrible, ghastly global catastrophe, actually,” he said. “And so we really do appeal to all world leaders: Stop using lockdown as your primary control method, develop better systems for doing it, work together and learn from each other, but remember—lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer.
Nabarro isn’t the only scientist opposing lockdowns. A number of medical or public health scientists and medical practitioners have signed the Great Barrington Declaration, which states that “current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.”
The signatories include: “Dr. Martin Kulldorff, professor of medicine at Harvard University, a biostatistician, and epidemiologist with expertise in detecting and monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety evaluations; Dr. Sunetra Gupta, professor at Oxford University, an epidemiologist with expertise in immunology, vaccine development, and mathematical modeling of infectious diseases; and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician, epidemiologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations.”
The declaration states, “The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk.”
With few exceptions, world leaders followed the lead of the Chinese communist regime when responding to the outbreak of the virus, imposing unprecedented lockdowns. Sweden, which didn’t impose a lockdown, experienced a lower percentage of deaths than some locales and nations that set restrictions.
In the United States, President Donald Trump delegated the decisions on lockdown measures to the governors of individual states. In the end, all but a handful of states enacted some sort of restrictive measures.
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: October-11-20 8:32 AM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 7
Importance: High
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Subject: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 7
Following is a recent article by Christopher Snowdon that strongly supports the position that the Covid-19 lockdown was NOT necessary, based on the evidence from Sweden, which did not lockdown. This conclusion is now a certainty for objective observers, given that there is now almost one year of Covid-19 history and data. Sweden did not lockdown, had relatively low Covid-19 deaths and has achieved herd immunity. Other countries that did lockdown often had higher death rates, but have not achieved herd immunity, allowed the Covid-19 virus to survive into the next flu season and completely trashed their economies, doing enormous harm especially to the young and low-income employees and their employers. The Covid-19 lockdown was a total FAIL.
I reached the correct conclusion (“No Lockdowns Of The Workforce Or Schools, But Over-Protect The Elderly And Infirm”) by ~1March2020 and published on 21&22March2020. This was clearly the correct path to follow.
How did I reach this correct conclusion more than six months ago? I do not publish such controversial conclusions lightly – I was certain that “No Lockdown” was the correct approach even then. Most of the Covid data was worthless, but there was quality data from the Diamond Princess cruise ship and a few other sources. Later, a physician told me that his hospital, which was ~emptied to make room for the expected “tsunami of Covid-19 cases”, had admitted almost NO Covid patients. More evidence!
My track record on major issues is highly credible. In the mid-to-late 1980’s, I initiated or co-initiated three of the four major steps that revitalized the Alberta oilsands. As a direct result, the oil sands industry became the mainstay of the Canadian economy for ~15 years, with over $250 billion in new capital investments and approximately 500,000 new jobs created. Canada became the fifth-largest oil producer in the world and the most successful economy of the G8 countries. Canada sailed through the 2008 market crash, making global economic heroes of Stephen Harper, David Dodge and Mark Carney, primarily because of the success of the oilsands. One of my knowledgeable colleagues commented: “These guys woke up on third base - and thought they hit a triple.” :-)
In 2002 Dr Sallie Baliunas, Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian, Dr Tim Patterson, Paleoclimatologist, Carleton U and I correctly published these two conclusions 18 years ago:
http://www.friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/KyotoAPEGA2002REV1.pdf
1. “Climate science does not support the theory of catastrophic human-made global warming – the alleged warming crisis does not exist.”
See Michael Shellenberger’s 2020 confession “On Behalf Of Environmentalists, I Apologize For The Climate Scare”. https://quillette.com/2020/06/30/on-behalf-of-environmentalists-i-apologize-for-the-climate-scare/
2. “The ultimate agenda of pro-Kyoto advocates is to eliminate fossil fuels, but this would result in a catastrophic shortfall in global energy supply – the wasteful, inefficient energy solutions proposed by Kyoto advocates simply cannot replace fossil fuels.”
See the rolling blackouts in California in summer 2020, and Michael Moore’s 2020 film “Planet of the Humans”.
The above two statements are now widely accepted as valid by competent scientists and engineers.
THE CATASTROPHIC ANTHROPOGENIC GLOBAL WARMING (CAGW) AND THE HUMANMADE CLIMATE CHANGE CRISES ARE PROVED FALSE
By Allan M.R. MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng., January 10, 2020
Dr Theodor Landscheidt published his famous prediction of imminent global cooling in 2003, entitled ““NEW LITTLE ICE AGE INSTEAD OF GLOBAL WARMING?”.
http://plasmaresources.com/ozwx/landscheidt/pdf/NewLittleIceAgeInsteadOfGlobalWarming.pdf
[Excerpt of the Abstract]
“Analysis of the sun's varying activity in the last two millennia indicates that contrary to the IPCC's speculation about man-made global warming as high as 5.8° C within the next hundred years, a long period of cool climate with its coldest phase around 2030 is to be expected. It is shown that minima in the 80 to 90-year Gleissberg cycle of solar activity, coinciding with periods of cool climate on Earth, are consistently linked to an 83-year cycle in the change of the rotary force driving the sun's oscillatory motion about the centre of mass of the solar system.”
One year earlier, I wrote a similar global cooling prediction, based on conversations with Paleoclimatologist Dr Tim Patterson. I published in the Calgary Herald on 1Sept2002:
“If [as we believe] solar activity is the main driver of surface temperature rather than CO2, we should begin the next cooling period by 2020 to 2030.”
Our prediction was based of the end of the Gleissberg Cycle of ~80-90 years, dated from 1940, the beginning of the previous global cooling period from ~1940 to 1977. Since about 2013, I have published that global cooling will start by about 2020. Cooling will start sporadically, in different locations. Planting of grains in the Great Plains of North America was one month late in both 2018 and 2019. Summer was warm in 2018 and the grain crop was successful. However spring was late and wet in 2019, and much of the huge USA corn crop was never planted due to wet ground; then the summer was cool and winter snow came early, resulting in huge crop failures across the Great Plains in 2019. Thousands of record cold temperatures were experienced in North America in October 2019, and temperatures in Britain and parts of northern Europe were also extremely cold. Analysis of the 2019 Great Plains harvest failure is here:
THE REAL CLIMATE CRISIS IS NOT GLOBAL WARMING, IT IS COOLING, AND IT MAY HAVE ALREADY STARTED
By Allan M.R. MacRae and Joseph D’Aleo, October 27, 2019
GROWING SEASON CHALLENGES FROM START TO FINISH
By Joseph D’Aleo, CCM, AMS Fellow, Co--‐Chief Meteorologist at Weatherbell.com, Nov 18, 2019
https://thsresearch.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/growing-season-challenges-from-start-to-finish.pdf
In 2008 I made the following major observations, which constitute a strong disproof of the failed global warming hypothesis:
a. The velocity of changes of atmospheric CO2 [dCO2/dt] varies ~contemporaneously with changes in global temperature (Fig.1a).
b. Therefore the integral of dCO2/dt, changes in atmospheric CO2, lag changes in global atmospheric temperature by ~9 months (Fig.1b).
Point “b” is a strong disproof of the catastrophic humanmade global warming (CAGW) hypothesis, which ASSUMES that atmospheric CO2 change causes and thus leads atmospheric temperature change, when in fact it lags in time. The CAGW hypothesis is disproved by precedence - “The future cannot cause the past.”
Later I was advised that Kuo et al (1990) made a similar observation to point ‘b’, as did Keeling (1995), in papers published in Nature. Neither Kuo nor Keeling noted point ‘a’ above.
Kuo’s and Keeling’s findings have been carefully ignored for decades by the global warming alarmists – that is the real “Inconvenient Truth”.
Fig.1a – The very close relationship of dCO2/dt vs global temperature is clearly apparent. Major volcanoes disrupt the relationship.
CO2, GLOBAL WARMING, CLIMATE AND ENERGY
by Allan M.R. MacRae, B.A.Sc., M.Eng., June 15, 2019
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/06/15/co2-global-warming-climate-and-energy-2/
In May 2016 as an uninvolved citizen, I became aware of unsafe operating procedures at the Mazeppa critical sour gas project near Calgary. The Mazeppa project had been acquired by foreign thugs and was being unsafely operated, and the project employees were afraid to report this very dangerous situation for fear of retaliation. Sour gas is instantly fatal at 0.1% H2S concentration and the wells were producing 40% H2S from locations within one mile of heavily-populated SE Calgary suburbs. Sour gas is a powerful neurotoxin, which is heavier than air and does not dissipate quickly into the atmosphere – it spreads across the ground surface and kills all living things (except some plants).
I investigated, consulted with trusted colleagues, reported my concerns to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), and followed up to ensure proper compliance. The AER quickly shut down the Mazeppa project, and canceled all 1600 operating licenses of the parent company, which was placed in receivership and bankruptcy. The Managing Director was fined and strictly sanctioned. This was the most severe reprimand of a company in the history of the Alberta energy industry. A 2005 analysis of Mazeppa wells by the Alberta ERCB (precursor to the AER) concluded that an uncontrolled sour gas release could affect an area within a 15km radius and could kill or injure the entire population of the SE quadrant of Calgary - up to 300,000 people, equivalent to one hundred 9-11’s, six Hiroshima’s or four Nagasaki’s. I received an award from the Society of Petroleum Engineers for averting this potential catastrophe. The AER tried to pretend that they were aware of this enormous danger - in fact, they were not.
Repeating, I do not published such major conclusions lightly, because I have a strong, credible track record. I was highly confident that the full-Gulag lockdown for Covid was a huge error and published that conclusion on 21&22March2020. There is now ample evidence from Sweden and elsewhere that my conclusion was correct. These destructive Covid-19 lockdowns should end now.
Regards, Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
Calgary
SWEDEN HAS DESTROYED THE CASE FOR LOCKDOWN
Predictions of mass death never came to pass. It’s now clear we can manage the virus without extreme measures.
Christopher Snowdon, 1st October 2020
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/10/01/sweden-has-destroyed-the-case-for-lockdown/
If you speak of the Swedish, no-lockdown approach to Covid-19 without disparagement, a horde of midwits will descend on you to say that, actually, Sweden has had a large number of Covid-related deaths compared to its immediate neighbours. Though you can explain that Sweden has had a lower death rate (per million people) than the UK, they will insist you only compare Sweden to the rest of Scandinavia.
But you don’t need to compare Sweden to any country to make the crucial observation that lockdowns are not necessary. Lockdowns were introduced because it was believed that they were the only way to prevent cases spiralling out of control, leading to most of the population being infected, health services being overwhelmed and 0.5 to one per cent of the population potentially dying of the disease.
This was not an unreasonable prediction when it was first made. The coronavirus is highly infectious and is several times more lethal than the flu. Case numbers were growing exponentially in March, as were deaths, and Neil Ferguson’s Imperial College model predicted over 250,000 deaths in Britain without lockdown, even with some social-distancing measures.
But when academics adapted Ferguson’s model to Sweden, it predicted 96,000 deaths by the end of June. Ferguson himself said on 25 April that Sweden’s daily deaths would ‘increase day by day. It is clearly a decision for the Swedish government whether it wishes to tolerate that.’
In fact, the daily number of deaths had already peaked by then – barely a week after they peaked in Britain – and the cumulative total currently stands at less than 6,000. When a prediction is so far off, it should command attention.
Let’s remember how the Swedish approach was reported at the time. A Guardian headline said on 30 March: ‘“They are leading us to catastrophe”: Sweden’s coronavirus stoicism begins to jar.’ The Sun on 1 April said Sweden’s ‘refusal to enter coronavirus lockdown leaving schools and pubs open “will lead to catastrophe”, doctors warn’. And Time magazine warned on 9 April that: ‘Sweden’s relaxed approach to the coronavirus could already be backfiring.’ The report also quoted a head doctor at a major hospital in Sweden saying ‘the current approach will “probably end in a historical massacre”’.
Various post-hoc justifications have been put forward for why things didn’t turn out as expected. Since none of them was mentioned by the doomsters back in March, you have to wonder whether this eagerness to show that there is something special and unique about Sweden reflects a genuine yearning for the truth or a pathological desire to promote lockdown at all costs.
The most stupid of these excuses is that Sweden has a low population density (59 people per square mile). Forgive me for insulting your intelligence but it seems some people need to hear this: Swedish people are not evenly spread out across the country. Scotland also has a low population density (65 people per square mile) because most of the country is wilderness. This has not stopped Glasgow becoming a Covid-19 hotspot.
The country with the highest per capita death rate from Covid is Peru, which has a population density only slightly higher than Sweden at 65 people per square mile. Brazil and Chile have also had more deaths per capita than Sweden, despite having low population densities of 65 and 60 people per square mile respectively. Like Sweden, these countries have vast areas in which nobody lives. There is no reason to think that this should help combat the coronavirus.
It is not as if everyone in Sweden lives in little villages, either: 88 per cent of Swedes live in urban areas. This compares with 84 per cent in the UK, 78 per cent in Peru and 81 per cent in Spain. Sweden is one of the most urbanised countries in Europe.
The second post-hoc explanation is that Swedes did actually lock down, but voluntarily. Unless you have a very loose definition of lockdown, this is simply untrue. This is a typical report from the Guardian in late March:
‘Outdoors, couples stroll arm in arm in the spring sunshine; Malmö’s café terraces do a brisk trade. On the beach and surrounding parkland at Sibbarp there were picnics and barbecues this weekend; the adjoining skate park and playground were rammed. No one was wearing a mask.’
And here’s Time magazine in April:
‘When Chloe Fu, 24, went for a run on Monday evening, the streets of Stockholm were filled with people drinking on restaurant patios, enjoying the first warm day of sunshine after a long winter. “When you walk around, there is a total and utter absence of panic”, Fu says, who moved to Sweden from the United States last year: “The streets are just as busy as they would have been last spring.”’
This kind of stuff was filmed for TV news reports – there’s no point denying it. Life was relatively normal in Sweden compared to the countries that locked down. That’s not to say that people didn’t make changes. There was plenty of social distancing and working from home. Gatherings of more than 50 people were banned and children aged 16 to 18 no longer went to school. The crucial point is that this was sufficient to prevent exponential growth of transmission. It did not require a lockdown.
But, the lockdown aficionados protest, Sweden still had many more deaths than its Nordic neighbours. This is true. Sweden typically has 90,000 deaths a year. It looks like it will have at least 6,000 deaths from Covid-19 this year. Some of those who died would have died this year anyway, but some would not have. But I have never heard a compelling reason why Sweden can only be compared to other Scandinavian countries. What is it about the Nordics that gives them special protection from Covid-19? Salty fish? Elks?
This pandemic is a marathon, not a sprint. The Swedes always accepted that they would see a higher rate of mortality in the spring and summer than countries which locked down early. The argument against lockdown was that every country would see a similar number of deaths in the long run and that it wasn’t worth disrupting people’s lives and livelihoods in an extreme way by quarantining the entire population. Perhaps the northern hemisphere will keep the virus under control this winter and not enact extreme measures again. But it’s still only September and cases are rising while new restrictions are being added.
There is a world of difference between locking down because it’s the only way to prevent the digging of mass graves and the collapse of your health service and locking down because it might prevent your annual mortality figures being five to 10 per cent higher than an average year. Given the immense cost of lockdown and the knowledge that it only delays the problem, the latter is a much harder sell.
Christopher Snowdon is director of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs. This article is adapted from a post on his blog, Velvet Glove, Iron Fist. He is also the co-host of Last Orders, spiked’s nanny-state podcast.
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: October-10-20 8:10 AM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 6
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Following are two contrary opinions: A petition calling for the immediate end of Covid-19 lockdowns signed by over 14, 000 health professionals, and an opposing article quoting Alberta ‘s Chief Medical Officer Of Health Dr Deena Hinshaw saying “herd immunity not the right approach for Alberta”. Both opinions have merits and both are written by honorable people. The petition is highly consistent with my published statements of 21&22March2020, included below. It calls for focused protection of the high-risk groups, and an end to lockdowns for the low-risk population, including the workforce and students.
I strongly support this position – End The Full-Gulag Lockdowns Now – they have done vastly more harm than good. The original justification for the lockdown was to prevent “a tsunami of cases that would overwhelm the medical system”, but that tsunami never happened, and was never even close to happening! One 600-bed hospital in Calgary was typical – it had a maximum of six Covid-19 cases and typically had only 2 or 3, but was effectively shut down for over 8 weeks! Then the goalposts were shifted and the full lockdown was extended, for reasons that still do not make sense.
The lockdown has not saved lives. All the lockdown accomplished was to crush the economy, do great harm to the working population and especially young people and those on low incomes, destroy many valued businesses and devastate their owners and employees, extend the life of the Covid-19 virus, delay herd immunity and allow the virus to survive into the next flu season. The full-Gulag lockdown was a huge error, a total FAIL.
All lockdown measures for the low-risk population – school children and the workforce - should end now and stronger measures should be initiated to over-protect the elderly and infirm – the high-risk population. I published that recommendation on 21&22March and that was the correct approach. Since then, trillions of dollars have been squandered and billions of lives have been harmed worldwide by panicky lockdown measures that were never justified for this relatively mild flu.
The conclusive evidence is from Sweden, which did NOT do the lockdown. The Covid-19 epidemic effectively ended by ~31july2020 in Sweden and Canada – there is not much difference in total deaths from Covid-19 in full-lockdown-Canada and no-lockdown-Sweden – there is no apparent evidence that the lockdown stopped the virus or saved lives. The argument for continuing with the lockdown appears to be Alberta’s unwillingness to abandon a failed policy.
OVER 14,000 HEALTH EXPERTS SIGN PETITION AGAINST COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS
Epoch Times, October 8, 2020
[excerpts]
As of Oct. 8, more than 9,400 medical practitioners and 4,900 medical and public health scientists have joined more than 120,000 members of the general public in signing the petition, which was created on Oct. 4 and co-authored by Harvard professor of medicine Dr. Martin Kulldorff, Oxford professor Dr. Sunetra Gupta, and Stanford Medical School professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.
“As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection,” reads the petition, which is titled the Great Barrington Declaration, after the Massachusetts town where it was signed.
The petition calls for an end to current lockdown policies, saying that they are producing “devastating effects” on short- and long-term public health.
Some of these devastating effects, the doctors wrote, include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings, and deteriorating mental health. They argue that this will, in the future, lead to greater excess mortality, with the working class and younger generation “carrying the heaviest burden.”
“Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice,” the petition continues. “Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.”
They instead insist on an approach that instead focuses on protecting the most vulnerable, while working toward achieving so-called herd immunity, which they describe as “Focused Protection.”
“The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk,” the doctors state.
“Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal,” the petition adds.
'OUR PATH FORWARD MUST RELY ON SCIENCE': HERD IMMUNITY NOT THE RIGHT APPROACH FOR ALBERTA, HINSHAW EXPLAINS
Hinshaw expressed three concerns: the serious impact this would have on older or at-risk Albertans, the fact that death is not the only severe outcome and the lack of knowledge about immunity to the novel coronavirus
Calgary Herald, Sep 29, 2020
Regards, Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
Calgary
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: October-01-20 8:04 PM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 5
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
TORONTO SUN EDITORIAL: QUESTIONING THE VALUE OF LOCKDOWNS
The 30Sep2020 editorial in the Toronto Sun discussed a letter signed by 20 medical specialists and addressed to Ontario Premier Doug Ford that urged a much reduced use of lockdowns for Covid-19. The doctors softened their message to reduce the inevitable blowback. In fact, the lockdowns were a costly debacle that did much more harm than good. The net-harmful lockdowns should never have happened and should end immediately. I reached those conclusions by ~1March2020 but spent 3 more weeks reviewing and verifying before I published on 21March2020. Data from Sweden and elsewhere prove I was correct.
Watch this video by Ivor Cummins - his Covid-19 conclusions of 8Sep2020 agree with my conclusions of ~21Mar2020, almost 6 months earlier.
Regards, Allan MacRae
Calgary
My published comments follow:
ALLAN MACRAE 1Oct2020 – Comment posted in response to the Toronto Sun Editorial
Sweden correctly did not impose the full-Gulag lockdown and had lower death rates than many countries that did lockdown and has now achieved herd immunity. Forget vaccines, all flu's in history have died because herd immunity was reached.
Covid-19 was a relatively mild flu, only significantly dangerous to the very elderly and infirm. The full-Gulag lockdown was an enormous error (or scam?) that squandered trillions of dollars and harmed billions of low-income people. The lockdown trashed the lives of young people to protect those who were typically in the last months of their lives. It also destroyed millions of businesses worldwide and impoverished their owners. The lockdown also slowed herd immunity such that the Covid-19 virus will apparently survive into the next flu season. The lockdown cure was far worse than the disease – a total FAIL.
The Covid-19 pandemic was over in Canada by end-July2020, when deaths dropped to a very low level – Sweden with NO lockdown followed two weeks later. Watch this video by Ivor Cummins - his Covid-19 conclusions of 8Sep2020 agree with my conclusions of ~21Mar2020, almost 6 months earlier.
Repeating what I published six months ago:
LET’S CONSIDER AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH:
Isolate people over sixty-five and those with poor immune systems and return to business-as-usual for people under sixty-five.
This will allow “herd immunity” to develop much sooner and older people will thus be more protected AND THE ECONOMY WON’T CRASH.
22March2020
This full-lockdown scenario is especially hurting service sector businesses and their minimum-wage employees - young people are telling me they are "financially under the bus". The young are being destroyed to protect us over-65's. A far better solution is to get them back to work and let us oldies keep our distance, and get "herd immunity" established ASAP - in months not years. Then we will all be safe again.
________________________________________________________________
Note: I am an older man in the higher-risk category - the lockdown did NOT protect me - all it did was hurt young people and low-income people, destroy businesses large and small, trash the economy and extend the life of the Covid-19 virus. Either our governments are incredibly incompetent or deliberately destructive.
EDITORIAL: Questioning the value of lockdowns
https://torontosun.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-questioning-the-value-of-lockdowns
Toronto Sun, Sep 30, 2020
As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to inch up across Canada, so do the number of voices calling for a return to some form of lockdown.
Every province has their own unique concerns, with some jurisdictions harder hit than others.
Three parts of Quebec have now been placed under what’s called a “red zone alert”, where restrictions have been tightened and residents are barred from having visitors at their homes.
There are calls for Ontario to plunge itself into lockdown again, after the province has seen several days of high case numbers.
Not everyone believes lockdowns are the right way forward. And not just laypersons. Medical experts are also stepping forward to question the value of lockdowns.
On Tuesday, a group of 20 concerned specialists sent an open letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford to voice their opposition to a return to lockdown.
The letter contains many words of wisdom that are worth repeating.
“Lockdowns have costs that have, to this point, not been included in the consideration of further measures,” the authors, which includes physicians, researchers and instructors from McMaster University, University of Toronto and elsewhere, note.
“A full accounting of the implications on health and well-being must be included in the models, and be brought forward for public debate. Hard data now exist showing the significant negative health effects shutting down society has caused.”
These experts bring up the need to protect the most vulnerable, make sure our kids can still go to school and address the growing health crises brought on by the lockdowns, which ranges from increased opioid deaths to cancelled medical procedures.
They also note that Canada’s COVID-19 conversation should be an open debate: “All have the right to feel their voices have been heard, and moreover to ensure factual credible data is openly debated, in contrast to the personal and political slants that have had apparent significant impacts on the management of the virus to date.”
They close in noting: “Our society has borne enormous pain over the past six months. It’s time to do something different.”
It’s refreshing to hear such a holistic perspective that strives to factor in all the societal elements of COVID-19.
The letter from the doctors to Doug Ford is here:
DOCTORS URGE LOCALIZED APPROACH, NOT SWEEPING LOCKDOWN, IN OPEN LETTER TO DOUG FORD
Special to Toronto Sun, Oct 01, 2020
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/doctors-urge-localized-approach-not-sweeping-lockdown-in-open-letter-to-doug-ford
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: September-30-20 5:46 AM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS HARMFUL LOCKDOWN NOW 4
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
How much more evidence do you need that this “pandemic” is over? Scandinavian countries are back to normal operations. End this harmful lockdown now!
The original justification for the Covid-19 lockdown was to prevent “a tsunami of cases that would overwhelm the medical system”, but that tsunami never happened, and was never even close to happening! One 600-bed hospital in Calgary was typical – it had a maximum of six Covid-19 cases and typically had only 2 or 3, but was effectively shut down for over 8 weeks! Then the goalposts were shifted and the full lockdown was extended, for reasons that still do not make sense. The lockdown has not saved lives. All the lockdown accomplished was to extend the life of the Covid-19 virus, delay herd immunity and allow the virus to survive into the next flu season.
DENMARK HEADS TO PRE-COVID NORMALITY: NO MASKS OR DISTANCING IN SCHOOLS, JUST COMMON SENSE
September 28, 2020 BY
Patrick Henningsen
https://21stcenturywire.com/2020/09/28/denmark-back-to-pre-covid-normality-no-masks-no-distancing-in-schools/
One of the more diabolical aspects of the protracted COVID ‘crisis’ in countries like the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, is the intellectually dishonest claim that Coronavirus in their countries is somehow different from the Coronavirus in other western countries.
It’s like there are two parallel universes now. While the Anglosphere continues to ramp-up its emergency ‘pandemic’ measures and mandatory mask and quarantine policies, their Scandinavian counterparts like Sweden, Norway or Denmark have already returned to life as normal; no masks on public transport (although Norway just introduced a new rule today advising masks on crowded carriages), no obsessive social distancing rules, no snap lockdowns, and certainly no draconian laws and threats of £10,000 fines made by government leaders, or holding the country hostage until a wonder vaccine arrives in the spring. The contrast couldn’t be more extreme.
__________________
THE COVID-19 EPIDEMIC NATURALLY ENDED BY ~31JULY2020 IN CANADA AND SWEDEN – COMPARE DEATHS IN LOCKDOWN-CANADA TO NO-LOCKDOWN-SWEDEN - THE LOCKDOWN DID NOT STOP THE VIRUS OR SAVE LIVES.
Regards, Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: September-18-20 2:19 AM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS FOOLISH LOCKDOWN NOW 3
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
VIRAL ISSUE CRUCIAL UPDATE SEPT 8TH: THE SCIENCE, LOGIC AND DATA EXPLAINED!
WATCH THIS EXCELLENT VIDEO complied by Ivor Cummins! It explains that Covid-19 is NOT significantly more dangerous that other recent flu’s.
I called all this correctly on 21March2020 - I was sure by ~1March2020 but re-verified with further analysis for ~3 more weeks before I published.
I published about 70% of the findings of this video months ago. The full-Gulag lockdown was a huge error – and probably the scam of the century.
Below is an excerpt of one of my many letters trying to get our Alberta government to wake up - they continue to obsess about the "Casedemic".
CUMMINS EXPLAINS THAT “INCREASING CASES” IS NOT A PROBLEM – BASED ON COVID-19 DEATHS, THE PANDEMIC WAS OVER BY ~END JULY IN CANADA.
Other news, sent to me by one of my very competent physician friends – Dr. Scott Atlas says on 23June2020 what I published three months earlier on 21March2020:
The Doctor Is In: Scott Atlas And The Efficacy Of Lockdowns, Social Distancing, And Closings
Dr. Scott Atlas is the Robert Wesson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, an accomplished physician, and a scholar of public health. For several weeks, Dr. Atlas has been making the case in print and in other media that we as a society have overreacted in imposing draconian restrictions on movement, gatherings, schools, sports, and other activities. He is not a COVID-19 denier—he believes the virus is a real threat and should be managed as such. But, as Dr. Atlas argues, there are some age groups and activities that are subject to very low risk. The one-size-fits-all approach we are currently using is overly authoritarian, inefficient, and not based in science. Dr. Atlas’s prescription includes more protection for people in nursing homes, two weeks of strict self-isolation for those with mild symptoms, and most importantly, the opening of all K–12 schools. The latter recommendation is vital for restarting and maintaining the economy so that parents are not housebound trying to work and educate their children. Dr. Atlas is also adamant that an economic shutdown, and all of the attendant issues that go along with it, is a terrible solution—THE CURE IS WORSE THAN THE DISEASE.
I get the seasonal flu shot every year, but I won’t take a rushed-out Covid-19 vaccine. Not all vaccines are created equal:
UN Forced To Admit Gates-Funded Vaccine Is Causing Polio Outbreak In Africa
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/un-forced-admit-gates-funded-vaccine-causing-polio-outbreak-africa
A horror story out of Africa – a live-virus polio vaccine infected and paralyzed children in Africa. Jesus wept!
Now if you folks had only listened to me back in March 2020, the trillions of wasted dollars and billions of harmed lives caused by the full-Gulag Covid-19 lockdown could have been saved. [Insert a strong expletive here if you feel the need.]
Regards, Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: September-16-20 5:34 AM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: RE: END THIS FOOLISH LOCKDOWN NOW 2
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
Subject: END THIS FOOLISH LOCKDOWN NOW 2
THE COVID-19 EPIDEMIC NATURALLY ENDED BY ~31JULY2020 IN CANADA AND SWEDEN – COMPARE DEATHS IN LOCKDOWN-CANADA TO NO-LOCKDOWN-SWEDEN - THE LOCKDOWN DID NOT STOP THE VIRUS OR SAVE LIVES.
THE QUESTION YOU SHOULD BE ASKING IS HOW WAS I ABLE TO CORRECTLY PREDICT THIS OUTCOME ON 21MARCH2020, WHEN SO MANY MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS GOT IT SO WRONG.
*21Mar2020
LET’S CONSIDER AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH:
Isolate people over sixty-five and those with poor immune systems and return to business-as-usual for people under sixty-five.
This will allow “herd immunity” to develop much sooner and older people will thus be more protected AND THE ECONOMY WON’T CRASH.
22Mar2020
This full-lockdown scenario is especially hurting service sector businesses and their minimum-wage employees - young people are telling me they are "financially under the bus". The young are being destroyed to protect us over-65's. A far better solution is to get them back to work and let us oldies keep our distance, and get "herd immunity" established ASAP - in months not years. Then we will all be safe again.
Data: https://www.euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
_____________________________________
Google Lockdown Skeptic and view many articles, pro and con. As the actual mortality data becomes more available, it will be clear that Covid-19 was less dangerous to the general populations than many seasonal flu’s of recent decades that nobody even remembers. The full-Gulag Covid-19 lockdown was the most costly error (probably the most costly fraud) of the 21st Century, edging out the decades-old Global Warming/Green Energy scam.
Why are these probable scams? Because no rational person could be this incredibly stupid for this long – the proponents know they are spouting lies – their faithful minions, Lenin’s “useful idiots”, believe every word.
Two important posts just sent to me by an accomplished specialist Canadian physician:
FLU AND PNEUMONIA HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO MORE DEATHS THAN COVID SINCE JUNE, NEW ONS FIGURES SHOW
ANTI COVID 19 GOV MEASURES PRESS CONFERENCE – GERMANY: “IT’S JUST A LIE.”
https://www.bitchute.com/video/i6PjgCYJQbaQ/
Also:
THE LOCKDOWN SKEPTIC THEY COULDN’T SILENCE
Targeted for censorship in March, Aaron Ginn is becoming an influential voice in cities, states and Washington.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-lockdown-skeptic-they-couldnt-silence-11589566245
Censorship of lockdown skeptic by Youtube and other mainstream media is becoming routine.
Why do these computer geeks think they have a monopoly on the facts? Their track record is abysmal – 100% FAILS.
The same political groups have consistently promoted the twin frauds of Catastrophic Global Warming (aka Climate Change) and Green Energy (aka California Rolling Blackouts) that were disproved decades ago.
Since ~1980, climate change alarmists have made about 50 very-scary predictions and NOT ONE HAS HAPPENED – nobody should believe them, about anything!
A BRITISH GROUP CALLED “LOCKDOWN SKEPTICS” HAS POSTED SOME WORTHWHILE ARTICLES
https://lockdownsceptics.org/
Regards, Allan MacRae, B.A.Sc.(Eng.), M.Eng.
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: September-09-20 10:19 PM
To: 'health.minister@gov.ab.ca'; 'education.minister@gov.ab.ca'
Cc: premier@gov.ab.ca
Subject: END THIS FOOLISH LOCKDOWN NOW 1
Hon. Shandro, Tyler
Minister of Health
Hon. Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
Cc: Hon. Jason Kenney
Premier of Alberta
Cc: Canadian and USA media and politicians
END THIS FOOLISH LOCKDOWN NOW
More evidence:
THE 1% BLUNDER: HOW A SIMPLE BUT FATAL MATH MISTAKE BY US COVID-19 EXPERTS CAUSED THE WORLD TO PANIC AND ORDER LOCKDOWNS
By Malcolm Kendrick, British doctor and author
6 Sep, 2020
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/500000-covid19-math-mistake-panic/
[excerpt]
We locked down in fear. We killed tens of thousands unnecessarily, in fear. We crippled the economy, and left millions in fear of their livelihoods. We have trapped abused women and children at home with their abusers. We have wiped out scores of companies, and crushed entire industries.
We stripped out the NHS, and left millions in prolonged pain and suffering, on ever lengthening waiting lists, which have doubled. There have also been tens of thousands of delayed cancer diagnoses – the effects of which are yet to be seen, but the Lancet has estimated at least sixty thousand years of life will be lost.
Lockdown can be seen as a complete and utter disaster. And it was all based on a nonsense, a claim that Covid was going to kill one percent. A claim that can now be seen to be utterly and completely wrong. Sweden, which did not lock down, has had a death rate of 0.0058 percent.
It takes a very big person to admit they have made a horrible, terrible mistake. But a horrible, terrible mistake has been made. Let’s end this ridiculous nonsense now. And vow never to let such monumental stupidity happen ever again.
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: September-03-20 7:48 AM
Subject: RE: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: THE GREAT RESET: A UNIQUE TWIN SUMMIT TO BEGIN 2021 (AKA "MARXISTS AT PLAY")
ADDENDUM: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: THE GREAT RESET: A UNIQUE TWIN SUMMIT TO BEGIN 2021 (AKA "MARXISTS AT PLAY")
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/09/01/the-real-cost-of-lockdowns/#comment-3075802
I’ve said for months that Covid-19 was not a very dangerous flu except for the very elderly and infirm – Covid-19 was less dangerous than the 2017-2018 seasonal flu that nobody even remembers.
The life expectancy of most of those who died from Covid-19 was months, not years – these old folks were already at the end of their journey. More evidence:
94 PERCENT OF COVID-19 DEATHS IN US HAVE CONTRIBUTING HEALTH CONDITIONS, CDC SAYS
By Paula Liu
September 2, 2020
https://www.theepochtimes.com/94-percent-of-covid-19-deaths-in-us-have-other-contributing-health-conditions-cdc-says_3484659.html
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated information regarding COVID-19 deaths, indicating that 94 percent of them had other contributing health conditions.
________________________
Also: American and British stats are upwardly skewed because, like New York State, the Brits deliberately sent Covid-19 infected patients back into old folks homes – idiocy or worse
From: Allan MacRae [mailto:]
Sent: September-03-20 7:34 AM
Subject: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: THE GREAT RESET: A UNIQUE TWIN SUMMIT TO BEGIN 2021 (AKA "MARXISTS AT PLAY")
THE GREAT RESET: A UNIQUE TWIN SUMMIT TO BEGIN 2021
https://www.weforum.org/great-reset/about
“The Great Reset” will be the theme of a unique twin summit in January 2021, convened by the World Economic Forum.
“The Great Reset” is a commitment to jointly and urgently build the foundations of our economic and social system for a more fair, sustainable and resilient future.
It requires a new social contract centred on human dignity, social justice and where societal progress does not fall behind economic development.
The global health crisis has laid bare longstanding ruptures in our economies and societies, and created a social crisis that urgently requires decent, meaningful jobs.
The twin summit will be both in-person and virtual, connecting key global governmental and business leaders in Davos with a global multistakeholder network in 400 cities around the world for a forward-oriented dialogue driven by the younger generation.
It's all a leftist scam - the enviro BS including the climate and green-energy fraud, the full-Gulag lockdown for Covid-19, paid-and-planned protests by Antifa and BLM. ALL LIES!
We published that the climate-and-green-energy fraud was a false narrative in 2002, and by 2012 I wrote that there was a covert agenda. Now the greens are admitting that climate-and-energy was false propaganda, a smokescreen for their extreme-left political objectives.
The green objective is to destroy prosperity and move the USA into a planned economy - with a few rich at the top looking down on the many poor peasants. That model describes most of the countries in the world. Europe and Canada are far down that path, and the USA will follow if Biden and the Demo-Marxists are elected.
The book “1984”, written by George Orwell in 1949, foresaw a time “when most of the world population have become victims of omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation”.
Well here is the REAL “1984”, an interview that year with ex-KGB officer and Soviet defector Yuri Bezmenov, who describes the slow, long-term “ideological subversion” of Western societies. Note Bezmenov’s discussion of ideological subversion. It’s about manipulating the "Useful Idiots" - the leftists in the West.
See "KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov's warning to America"
One commenter on the video wrote: “This is crazy, almost everything predicted by this guy is already happening."
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THE REAL COST OF LOCKDOWNS
September 1, 2020
Comment by Allan MacRae
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/09/01/the-real-cost-of-lockdowns/#comment-3075645
Great article Wills and a great call on 21Mar2020. I independently published a very similar call on the same day:
21Mar2020
LET’S CONSIDER AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH:
Isolate people over sixty-five and those with poor immune systems and return to business-as-usual for people under sixty-five.
This will allow “herd immunity” to develop much sooner and older people will thus be more protected AND THE ECONOMY WON’T CRASH.
22Mar2020
This full-lockdown scenario is especially hurting service sector businesses and their minimum-wage employees - young people are telling me they are "financially under the bus". The young are being destroyed to protect us over-65's. A far better solution is to get them back to work and let us oldies keep our distance, and get "herd immunity" established ASAP - in months not years. Then we will all be safe again.
As rare as it was, our correct calls were not that difficult – most of the early data was junk, but there was credible mortality data from the Diamond Princess cruise ship and a few other sources.
I cannot believe that the professional epidemiologists were all that incompetent - the full-Gulag lockdown is looking more and more like a huge global scam - not unlike the CAGW/green energy scam – and for the same totalitarian political objectives.
The full lockdown was originally intended to prevent the “tsunami of cases from swamping out medical system” – A TSUNAMI OF CASES that NEVER HAPPENED! Medical people knew this reality by about mid-March, ~two weeks into the lockdown, but our Alberta hospitals were essentially emptied for over two months!
Since then, the lockdown has been extended through today, about six months, and has squandered trillions of dollars and harmed billions of people, and for what? The lockdown has NOT saved lives – all it has done is prolong the life of the virus by delaying herd immunity - it may even allow the virus to continue into the next flu season. It may even allow the virus to mutate to a more dangerous form.
Forget vaccines. Every flu virus in human history dies the same way – via herd immunity – and the lockdown has only served to delay herd immunity and cause enormous economic and human harm.
Sweden did it mostly right (no lockdown) and has achieved herd immunity, and most other countries did it entirely wrong.
It was obvious by about 1March2020 that Covid-19 was a relatively mild flu, considerably milder than the 2017-2018 seasonal flu and others, and essentially only dangerous to the very elderly and very infirm. The workforce and students were barely affected – many were asymptomatic.
It is really difficult to believe that supposedly intelligent “medical experts” could be this stupid for this long – the full-Gulag lockdown looks more like a deliberate scam every passing day.
PLANDEMIC OR SCAMDEMIC?
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