Editorial
By George Miller
Dear Ventura County Supervisors, Health Dept, CEO and Residents:
I see that you’re locking down the county even further, in response to Newsom’s ineffective and possibly illegal “orders.” I see that rather than pass ordinances, that you merely hide behind the Health Dept. and don’t even attempt to rubberstamp it with a vote. You have abdicated your legislative authority.
COVID-19 is here, but its severity is hugely exaggerated and the approach to dealing with it wrongheaded. That’s not to say that it isn’t dangerous to the small percentage of people most susceptible, which is where your efforts should be instead focused.
Some of us have been sending you protest letters for months with statistics, facts, opinions and suggestions, but they have been largely ignored. In all this time, the only people who have engaged me are Health Officer Dr. Levin and CEO Mike Powers. From the Supervisors, including my own district- NADA. I must be using the wrong emails for them?
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I see our Sheriff isn’t taking the brave, principled approach of some other southland sheriffs: https://www.citizensjournal.us/ventura-county-sheriffs-milk-toast-response-to-latest-stay-at-home-order/
In contrast: https://www.citizensjournal.us/oc-sheriff-barnes-says-department-wont-enforce-stay-at-home-order/
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The entire approach to dealing with COVID-19 is based on incorrect assumptions:
1. That COVID-19 is like the black plague and will kill everyone in sight. This has not only failed to happen, but it appears that many deaths reported may not be due to COVID-19 primarily or even at all.
2. That everyone and everything must be locked down, when only a tiny percentage of residents are in potential danger.
Only 4 of the 187 deaths in 850,000 resident Ventura County had no co-morbidities. Nothing is published on the proximate cause of death or contribution of COVID-19 to the deaths recorded as COVID-19. What other diseases is that method used for? Citizens Journal’s Editor has been attempting to get that info from the county on contribution and comparison to other causes of death, and comparisons to last year, by month, so far without success.
Even as the cult of masking has become pervasive, the number of “cases” (positive PCR test, but that’s another whole story) skyrockets. There doesn’t appear to be much of a correlation between masks and cases. I wonder if it’s because it’s flu season, when respiratory illnesses usually skyrocket anyway? More on mask effectiveness: https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/2413465/navymarine-corps-covid-19-study-findings-published-in-new-england-journal-of-me/
Reasonable precautions such as sanitation and social distancing make sense, where applicable.
I saw some correspondence directed from the county to our editor, from your Communications Director that said cases seem to be originating from home situations, not so much public contact. I also note that densely populated areas and living areas seem to have much more cases and deaths.
Yet businesses which have worked hard and spent considerable resources to make themselves safe for patrons seem to be taking the brunt of the lockdown restrictions. Houses of worship, too. Meanwhile some industries have the privilege of remaining open but do not seem as essential: pot shops, abortion mills, liquor stores, strip joints. REALLY? Makes me worry about the intellectual and moral grounding of the rule-makers.
People have lost faith in their so-called leaders (mostly they are merely officials) to tell them what to do, when:
1. It doesn’t work
2. Some aren’t following the instructions themselves.
We are taking reasonable precautions: sanitation and rational social distancing. I wear masks in stores and places where people will be in close quarters, although their pros are offset by the cons. But I’ll be darned if I will wear one at home, unless I have a 90 year old visitor with multiple co-morbidities, who I probably wouldn’t invite to my home in the first place. I will definitely not wear a mask while driving, walking outdoors, or exercising.
Would you please show some backbone and come up with some sensible guidance that actually works, without bankrupting the state and destroying the economy, which will cause far more damage than COVID-19? This is not the time to be hiding and excessively delegating.
Regards,
George Miller
[email protected]
George Miller is Publisher/Co-Founder of CitizensJournal.us and a “retired” operations management consultant residing in Oxnard.
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Enough. People get a grip. How stupid does a person have to be to believe the exaggerated threat of Covid!?!?!
Go to Realclearpolitics.com and scroll down to the state by state comparsion per capita of COVID cases and deaths. California is doing a lot better than open states
Very small window … After which the body must and should fight.
Someone with critical thinking skills still at work. Most don’t have any left and will not spend 30 minutes a day to do any research on their own. Wait until the new mRNA vaxx comes out (it is not a traditional immunization). FYI, Inovio needs an electric pulse to activate the snake bite (synthetic DNA). What will you look or feel like in 2-5 years?
The “cycle threshold” is the number of amplification cycles a PCR test goes through before it determines the presence of a virus. The lower the cycle, the higher the viral load from the original sample; a higher cycle, on the other hand, means that the machine had to work longer and harder to detect a scant amount of virus in the original sample. … Higher-cycle “positive” tests potentially indicate that a patient is non-infectious and at little health risk from the virus; those results may also indicate that a patient need not subject himself to strict quarantine measures, given the potential lack of infectivity.
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/state-health-departments-across-country-are-failing-collect-critical
The PCR tests do not report the viral load which is important in determining what state in the disease the positive result is occuring. Perhaps the viral load is in some database, but I have not seen it published as part of the data collection process….citizens who are tested should demand to know their viral load when they receive the results.
https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/what-viral-load-can-tell-us-about-the-transmission-potential-of-covid-19-in-healthcare-workers/
To George Miller & the like,
How about SOME recommended solutions rather than ALL complaints.
Historically, stats show a small percentage of the population make it to the polls yet what may be a larger percentage are quick to criticize the elected officials trying to do the job prescribed by that same population whom are registered voters.
Just sayin, take it or leave it✌️
You didn’t read carefully. The article specifically states that the focus should be on the most at risk and also that reasonable sanitation and social distancing should be practiced. It also refers to businesses and other organizations which have already taken steps to improve safety.
Great opinion piece. I agree completely. Plus its criminal that the politicians who make such Draconian social orders on the public continue to get their paychecks while they order small businesses to shutdown. They have no skin in the game.
It’s not all about you
Very little is about me and the article reflects it, troll of many posting names but today it is “Susan”