Editor’s Note: This is a long article by Dr. Paul Thomas, my co-author and colleague. In it Paul Thomas, M.D., unpacks the truth about COVID-19, explaining why the virus is much less deadly and worrisome than we have been led to believe. Analyzing the current numbers, Paul Thomas, M.D., argues that it is safe for Oregonians to go back to work and school. Arguments similar to this one have been made by Scott Atlas, M.D. (“The data is in–stop the panic and end the total isolation“); Yoram Lass, former director of Israel’s Health Ministry (“Nothing can justify this destruction of people’s lives“); and Stanford University’s Nobel Prize winning chemist, Michael Levitt, Ph.D. (“Lockdown was a waste of time and could kill more than it saved…”), among many other thoughtful and well educated people.
The Truth About COVID-19
By Paul Thomas, M.D.
Special to www.JenniferMargulis.net
PORTLAND, Ore. (July 27, 2020) — As the coronavirus crisis enters its sixth month, we are seeing more restrictions and mandates coming out of various state and federal offices. There is quarantining, contact tracing, social distancing requirements, mask requirements, and mandatory closures of businesses and schools.
What started as public health initiatives have morphed into something that seems to go well beyond public health. As I follow the data, both from mainstream and alternative media sources, as well as from the CDC and my state health agency, it has become increasingly clear to me that those who have been the most vocal in declaring coronavirus a global emergency have become addicted to that power above all else.
The truth about COVID-19
I have about 15,000 active patients in my practice and a team of doctors, nurses, and support staff that helps me care for them. Because our practice is essential, we never closed our doors in 2020. Interestingly, we have had zero confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past six months.
As soon as widespread testing became available in May, we tested every patient who was sick with coronavirus symptoms. Every test came back negative. We also tested all of our employees. None of my 29 staff members, people who are around all the sickness children day in and day out, have tested positive for antibodies against COVID-19. There have been 286 confirmed deaths in Oregon and 16,492 confirmed cases as of this writing. But no children or young adults have died of the SARS-CoV2 virus in our state.
Let me be clear. The illness we call COVID-19 is real. It is killing some, especially older adults with underlying health conditions. It seems to attack people who are suffering from obesity, diabetes, compromised lung capacity, and heart conditions the most. Rarely, coronavirus has proven deadly to people without known underlying medical conditions. All of these deaths are tragic.
The truth about coronavirus, however, is that it is not the big monster killer the media had made it out to be.
I arrived at the Oregon Coast for a family vacation and read an article in the Newport, Oregon News Times, announcing “Two more die with COVID at Avamere.” The article explains:
Lincoln County Public Health announced the county’s eighth COVID-positive death on July 17—an 82-year-old man who died at Avamere Rehabilitation of Newport. The death, in fact, occurred July 4th,, before three that had been announced on July 9, 19, and 12—also all Avamere residents—but a test a few days prior came back negative, and he was found to be positive via posthumous testing. “Two Avamere residents died the previous week on July 1 and 2. Robert Swinea, the facility’s administrator, said all six of the deceased were asymptomatic for COVID-19 and died from pre-existing health conditions.” Swinea then shared that “all 18 staff members who tested positive since mid-June have recovered, as have all 18 positive residents.” [My emphasis.]
These people died of old age or their other medical conditions, folks! They died with COVID-19, not of COVID-19. There’s a big difference.
The real news here is that all the people who had symptoms of COVID-19 recovered, both staff and elderly residents!
Oregon’s COVID-19 numbers not a cause for concern
Oregon has had 286 deaths, total. In a state with a population of some 4.3 million people. All but 6 of the people who tragically died had underlying medical conditions.
In the Lincoln county cases described in the article, the older adults who passed away were dying anyway. They happened to have a virus that was causing NO SYMPTOMS.
They didn’t die from COVID-19 but they are being counted as COVID-19 deaths! In order to be counted as COVID-19 deaths, health officials in one case, had to test the dead body for COVID-19.
The Oregon Health Authority appears to also be counting positives obtained after death: “Oregon’s 257th COVID-19 death is an 81-year-old man in Lincoln County who died on July 4 in his residence and tested positive post-mortem on July 15. He had underlying conditions” [my emphasis.]
The insanity of this public health charade must be exposed
Everyone has to die. It’s the one aspect of the human condition that we all have in common. As tragic as it is for us when we lose our loved ones, people all over the world are dying all the time, every day.
But instead of putting the coronavirus situation into a larger, more rational, and more science-based context, public health officials, drunk from their newfound power, have abandoned science. They are mishandling death certificates to do everything in their power to call as many deaths as possible COVID deaths.
By equating DEATH and CORONAVIRUS and having “new cases” the metric on all the news shows, people at all levels, including conventional doctors and scientists, are living in fear, terrified of this disease. Anytime anyone dies for any reason and a postmortem test comes back positive, it is considered a death from COVID-19.
Lied to about the actual cause of death
In order to better understand the truth about COVID-19 and the real death rate, we have to look at excess deaths. So as of now we have missing information. We will have a big massive clue when we get the data for total deaths in 2020 compared to those for 2019 and years before.
With this COVID-19 deadly viral infection hitting us at a weird time (March to June for most of the country) these should all be extra deaths. When we see that deaths have actually been lower or the same for 2020, that will be the proof that this was diagnostic substitution. As they did in Lincoln County, Oregon, people dying anyway had those deaths counted even when there were no COVID symptoms and even when the last test had been negative.
Posthumous testing takes this madness to a whole new level. For the results to be meaningful, we would need to test the dead bodies for other infectious viral and bacterial pathogens—there are at least 20 common ones that we know can kill. It would be a rare person indeed who did not test positive for one or two viruses and bacteria at the time of their demise.
Now let me explain what is really happening with this virus. This information comes from the data, the science, and a dose of commonsense from a board-certified pediatrician with over 30 years of experience healing sick children.
Coronaviruses are winter cold viruses
Coronaviruses are winter cold viruses. A look at death curves from around the world shows that for most states and countries in the northern hemisphere the peaks are not only behind us, but the outbreaks are essentially over. Let’s take a look at New York. The situation there provides an excellent example since, unlike Oregon, they have had such a large, visible, and severe outbreak.
Look at the death rates on the above graph. This is very reassuring. You can see that, regardless of the number of positive tests going forward, the outbreak has essentially run its course in New York.
The COVID-19 tests for infection are PCR tests that show evidence that a sequence (part) of a virus that looks like SARS-CoV2 is present in this person’s nose or wherever the sample was taken.
This test does NOT tell you there is a live and infectious virus present.
There is a very high false positive rate, meaning that for every 100 tests there may be as many as 20 positive tests in people who don’t have COVID-19 or the virus at all.
This is why the more you test the more cases you find.
Test 100 = 20 positives (that really aren’t positive)
Test 1,000 = 200 positive (that really aren’t positive)
Test 10,000 = 2,000 positive (that really aren’t positive)
Test 100,000 = 20,000 positives (that aren’t really positive)
You get the idea.
Now add to the false positives the fact that we are targeting our testing in elder care homes where people are dying anyway as well as in hospitals where people are always dying, and you can see very clearly WHY we will continue to have “COVID-19 deaths” as long as we apply this approach to our testing and reporting.
It appears that children, and adults who work around children, like the doctors and staff in my clinic, have robust innate immune systems. Arguably we were all exposed to COVID-19. But we all tested negative. Most likely because we were all healthy enough to begin with that we didn’t need to mount a large antibody response to get rid of this pesky COVID-19 virus.
The power of healthy immunity
The immune system is much more powerful against Covid-19 than we initially believed when this all started. Sure, it made sense to be careful before we understood this virus. But we now know this virus is no worse than the flu in nearly all age categories.
Our immune systems have seen coronaviruses before and it appears many of us, in particular children, young adults, and adults who spend time around children, have the advantage of cross protection. So, while we thought at first “this is a novel virus,” believing it was new to the human race, it turns out our immune systems know how to handle it.
In pediatrics when we order a respiratory panel to look for possible causes of serious lung infections (cough, fever), we typically test for flu, RSV, pertussis, coronavirus, rhinovirus, adenovirus, and more. We have done this kind of testing for years. Flu viruses mutate every year, which is why there is a new flu shot developed every year, one that tries to predict the strains of influenza that will be in circulation. SARSCoV-2 is just a mutation of the common cold coronavirus.
The fact that so many don’t get sick from SARSCoV-2 means much of the population has some immunity already. It is also becoming clear that much of our immunity is not the type vaccines induce with antibodies, but rather our innate immune system—that which we are born with and that which adapts very quickly to new challenges.
In a recent paper, “Presence of SARS-CoV-2 reactive T cells in COVID-19 patients and healthy donors,” a team of 30 scientists from Germany, explain: “We demonstrate the presence of S-reactive CD4+ T cells in 83% of COVID-19 patients, as well as in 34% of SARS-CoV-2 seronegative healthy donors.”
In this German population, 34% of people never exposed to COVID -19 already have immunity.
My guess is that children and those who work around children would have very high rates of this type of immunity. It also seems that this type of immunity may actually be the best for COVID-19 and similar coronavirus infections.
The truth about COVID-19 according to Paul Thomas, M.D.: Asymptomatic carriers don’t put others at risk
One of the most misguided assertions—one that fuels people’s fears the most is that asymptomatic carriers spread the disease to others. The idea that we should be fearful of healthy people is being repeated by virtually everyone, from doctors to news reporters. You’ve heard these dire warnings: that someone could have Covid-19 without any symptoms at all and can even spread the disease to others.
One of the most contagious diseases that scares most people still to this day is measles. Measles is far more contagious than COVID-19. Yet even measles, other than the household contacts of the most recent outbreak in the Portland-Vancouver area where we had several cases, each time a case of an infected person being in public (the Blazers arena where 20,000 were exposed), and many episodes of community exposures over the past decade where we saw several warnings, how many community members were infected by these measles infected people?
ZERO.
Yes, that’s right. Every case of measles has been from household contacts!
A peer-reviewed study by epidemiologists in China looked at 455 contacts who were exposed to COVID-19 via an asymptomatic carrier. Of these hundreds and hundreds of people, not a single one tested positive for the coronavirus.
The bottom line: You are far more likely to be struck by lightning than you are to get COVID-19 from casual contact from someone who has no symptoms. Of course, if you choose to kiss and exchange body fluids, all bets are off. But if you’re not in intimate contact, asymptomatic carriers do not pose a risk to you.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that so many conventionally trained medical doctors, immunologists, and infectious disease experts have abandoned both science and commonsense when it comes to COVID-19.
In the past when an infectious virus or bacteria entered the community, those who had immunity were protected. Those who got ill did not have immunity.
Before the advent of vaccines, that immunity was a natural process that involved greater and greater percentages of the population getting the illness and then being protected.
We found that at a given level of community immunity, a given virus or bacteria would have a hard time taking hold and spreading through the community. We called this phenomenon “herd immunity.” If enough of us have community immunity, then everyone is protected. Experts argue endlessly over what percentage of the population needs to be immune to achieve community immunity. Generally it is somewhere between 60 – 90% for it to be unlikely that the next time a given virus or bacteria enters the community that it will take hold and do damage.
It’s interesting that public health authorities, the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, and billionaires like Bill Gates who is a self-appointed, non-trained, “expert” and spokesperson for COVID vaccines, are already accepting that a vaccine that is only 50% effective is the goal. At that level of effectiveness, even if 100% of the world got the vaccine (and it worked 100% of the time), we would not have herd immunity.
Effectiveness aside, there’s another whole issue with developing COVID-19 vaccines. Antibodies produced don’t seem to be lasting. This virus is mutating, much like the flu virus does, such that the vaccine researchers are working so hard to develop quickly right now may not be effective against the coronavirus strain come the next cold and flu season.
So, what is the significance of children not getting sick from this SARSCoV-2 virus? Why have none of my 15,000 pediatric patients gotten COVID-19?
Here’s a look at the deaths in the USA by age:
Notice basically ZERO deaths in the 0-24 age group.
So, what does it mean when this massive segment of the population is not getting COVID-19 and if they do get it, it’s more of a typical cold-like illness?
What does it mean that all 29 doctors, nurses and staff in my pediatric office have tested negative for COVID-19 antibodies and none of us has been affected by COVID-19?
What does it mean when you read in the newspaper article mentioned above that all 18 of the elderly, and all 18 staff members at the Avamere Rehabilitation center, recovered?
This means that many of us already have immunity to this virus. For those of us who have this immunity, we are protected from getting infected in the first place or having a severe infection if we do get the virus. We are immune. And we must strive to help everyone become immune.
The best way to achieve robust herd immunity is crystal clear: follow the Swedish model, open up the schools, do not require masks or social distancing for those who are young and those who are healthy.
As a precaution, until those who are higher risk can get a vaccine (if that is what they want), those children, teachers, and staff who live with or care for high-risk individuals should continue to quarantine and teach or learn from home. They must wear N-95 masks and face shields when in public so they don’t bring the virus home to their high-risk loved ones. In the meantime, the rest of society can now get back to work and school.
It’s a myth that there is no immunity in our population against COVID-19.
The disease models promoted by epidemiologists and “experts” have missed the fact that there is already a significant degree of immunity which along with this being a winter cold and flu virus accounts for the fact that this outbreak is largely over in the northern hemisphere.
Ongoing numbers represent the misguided approach of over-counting, false-positives, and looking for positives in the places people are dying anyway, including elder care facilities and hospitals. Given this approach, and the media’s love affair with reporting these meaningless numbers and propagating fear, the population will remain terrified, ready to accept even an ineffective and hastily produced vaccine as the way out of this mess.
Remember Franklin D. Roosevelt’s inaugural address when he first became president of the United States? He told the American people, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
The truth about COVID-19 is that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. When you pay attention to the science, you see clearly why it’s time for all of us to stop accepting the fear narrative and go back to living our lives.
About the author: Paul Thomas, M.D. has been practicing medicine for over 30 years. Affectionately known as “Dr. Paul,” Paul Thomas received his M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School and is board-certified in Pediatrics and Addiction Medicine. Since 1988, Dr. Paul Thomas has taught residents and medical students. He opened his own practice, Integrative Pediatrics, in 2008 where he currently serves over 15,000 patients. Dr. Paul Thomas also runs a medical detox clinic, Fair Start, where he has helped over a thousand patients beat addiction and wean off opioids. His first book, The Vaccine-Friendly Plan, co-authored with Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., was published in 2016 by Ballantine Books. His second book, The Addiction Spectrum: A Compassionate, Holistic Approach to Recovery, also co-authored by Jennifer Margulis, was published by HarperOne in 2018. Paul Thomas has a third book, COVID-19: Life-Saving Strategies The News Media Will Never Tell You, available on SmashWords. America’s most loved pediatrician, Dr. Paul Thomas has over 1.2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. Sign up for newsletters from Paul Thomas, get important links, and stay connected at: www.DrPaulApproved.com.
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