Federal Ineptitude, Skullduggery, Covid-19 Testing the Healthy & Sisyphus

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Sisyphus, the tyrant king of Corinth in Greek mythology, was punished by the gods for his cruelty. His curse was to push a round heavy stone up a mountain only to have it fall back down again and again for all eternity, a symbol of futility (Ref.1).  We see a similar futile act in SARS-CoV-2 testing and changing CDC quarantine/isolation guidelines in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus that already is endemic in the U.S. (Ref.2,3,4). But, as early as October 5, 2020, Drs. Bhattacharya, Gupta and Kulldorf released the Great Barrington Declaration noting that the virus was already prevalent, those at greatest risk were known, the importance of immunity, and that the best strategy, till the wide availability of vaccines, was to protect the vulnerable (Ref.5). A superb two-hour video of an in-depth conversation with the three authors of the declaration is available on the web site and well worth the time investment (Ref.6). 
    Mentioned in the above discussion is the unreliability of mathematical models because of the many needed assumptions and the known inaccuracies during previous public health hazards.   Despite these reservations, model predictions of an impending catastrophe by Neal Ferguson of London caused world leaders to “throw caution to the wind” and attempt to stop the spread of the virus by any means possible, paying no intention to years of previous research on the fallacy of trying to control the presence of a respiratory virus that can be spread by asymptomatic individuals (Ref.7).   
    The most egregious action was by leaders of the well-respected, prestigious, and well-funded (>40 $billion/yr.) National Institutes of Health (NIH) whereby Drs. Collins and Fauci deliberately squelched any scientific debate on the best way forward in dealing with the pandemic, especially that of the Great Barrington Declaration (Ref.8.9). Their actions were particularly untoward as debate seeking truth is the cornerstone of good science and these two individuals are looked upon to be among the top scientists in the U.S. The actions by these two men may be explained by their steadfast belief, promotion, and funding of gain of function viral research over the years despite severe criticism (Ref.10,11,12).   Adding to the tragedy of squelching debate on how best to deal with the pandemic was that it became highly politicized with the politicians, their followers, and the press more involved with gaining political points than focusing on trying to pursue the best possible course of action with the least collateral damage to the well-being of the population.
   Three federal agencies have failed us in dealing with the pandemic, the NIH, FDA, and the CDC. The NIH pursued “gain-of-function” research that could be the source of the pandemic, interfered in scientific debate and did not add an older agent, Fluvoxamine, to its guidelines in treating Covid-19 despite studies demonstrating its benefit (Ref.13,14).  The FDA has yet to give vaccines full approval along with delays for emergency use authorization for oral antivirals (Ref.15). The CDC continues its futile attempt to control the spread of the virus via quarantines/isolation and testing, Sisyphus revisited. 

  1. John Conway, Greek Mythology and Rolling the Stone Uphill, Classroom, available at: https://classroom.synonym.com/greek-mythology-rolling-stone-uphill-16763.html (accessed December 24, 2021)  
  2. Andrew Restuccia, Sabrina Siddiqui & Brianna Abbott, Biden Administration to Combat Omicron by Distributing 500 Million At-Home Test Kits, WSJ, December 21, 2021, available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-administration-to-distribute-500-million-at-home-covid-19-test-kits-11640080802?st=31sb74pzs45777k&reflink=desktopwebshare_twitter (accessed December 22, 2021)
  3. The Canadian Press, US officials recommend shorter COVID isolation, quarantine, Yahoo!finance, December 27, 2021, available at: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/cdc-recommends-shorter-covid-isolation-213505711.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAI2L1NLv1n59nrSJcYVa9k-%20%20m7pKOyBHdaPxG3R0ekAgln65W13GDCCEQnjwkeqYyE6mkO6e0voYiTDdfk6xh5qav0hNrLmBPvGHTfMmTgEAsMCePw7GZhro8FdQG_tu0lqnD0R7X-_6VsYTAGdSMRWtV2yaKI8l2Nri0is27Z3nz (accessed December 28, 2021)
  4. Robert Pearl, Pearl: Endemic COVID-19 should be cause for celebration, not consternation, The Press Democrat, December 29, 2021, available at: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/opinion/pearl-endemic-covid-19-should-be-cause-for-celebration-not-consternation/ (accessed December 29, 2021)
  5. Great Barrington Declaration, available at: https://gbdeclaration.org/ (accessed October 29, 2020)
  6. Great Barrington Declaration – Video, available at: https://gbdeclaration.org/video/ (accessed December 27, 2021)
  7. Phillip W. Magness & Peter C. Earle, The Fickle ‘Science’ of Lockdowns, WSJ, December 19,2021, available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/lockdown-science-pandemic-imperial-college-london-quarantine-social-distance-covid-fauci-omicron-11639930605 (accessed December 19, 2021)
  8. The Editorial Board, How Fauci and Collins Shut Down Covid Debate, WSJ, December 21, 2021, available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/fauci-collins-emails-great-barrington-declaration-covid-pandemic-lockdown-11640129116 (accessed December 22, 2021)
  9. Jeffrey Tucker, Fauci’s War on Science; The Smoking Gun, Brownstone Institute, December 19, 2021, available at: https://brownstone.org/articles/faucis-war-on-science-the-smoking-gun/ (accessed December 20, 2021)  
  10. Opinion, Anthony S. Fauci, Gary J. Nabel and Francis S. Collins, “A flu virus risk worth taking,” The Washington Post, December 30, 2011, available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-flu-virus-risk-worth-taking/2011/12/30/gIQAM9sNRP_story.html Accessed Jan. 22, 2012)
  11. Opinion – Editorial, ”An Engineered Doomsday,” The New York Times, Jan. 7, 2012, available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/an-engineered-doomsday.html (Accessed Jan.21, 2021)
  12.  Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director, National Institutes of Health, “NIH Lifts Pause on Gain-of-Function Research,” Dec. 19, 2017, available at: https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/nih-lifts-funding-pause-gain-function-research (Accessed Jan. 24, 2021) 
  13. Ken Fisher, M.D., Was this Pandemic Man-Made and In Part Funded by the U.S.?, Feb, 10, 2021, Authentic Medicine, available at: https://authenticmedicine.com/2021/02/was-this-pandemic-man-made-and-in-part-funded-by-the-u-s/ (Accessed Feb. 10, 2021)
  14.  Fluvoxamine needs NIH guide line approval – https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-fluvoxamine-the-covid-miracle-drug-we-have-been-waiting-for-oral-pill-cheap-hospitalization-11640726605
  15. The Editorial Board, Big Pharma Success, Government Failure, WSJ, December 23, 2021, available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-pharma-success-government-failure-covid-pills-merck-molnupiravir-pfizer-paxlovid-ridgeback-11640295905 (accessed December 23, 2021)

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