The series begins with a broad worldwide overview of the early days of the global pandemic – the generally widespread chaos, followed by panic-driven draconian measures to control the spread, and the flawed data collection and interpretation. This is what most countries experienced which resulted in lockdowns. A few countries, however, did not follow this course of action – South Korea, Sweden, and Japan plus others. They experienced similar death rates to the median of the majority but without the social and economic damage inflicted by lockdowns. The U.S. seemingly followed the herd with the exception of South Dakota early on, followed by Florida later in the pandemic
This segment reveals how ill-prepared, slow moving, and seemingly incompetent on many fronts the federal agencies were in addressing the pandemic. They implemented a flu model to control the spread of the virus which was the wrong model for an aerosol virus such as SARS-CoV-2. Further, they didn’t have any way to detect the virus, making it almost impossible to contain it. So, they continued with the flu model and were resistant to changing their approach. The excerpts also describe the agencies arrogance in not seeking the help of the private sector.
Segment 3 provides an in-depth perspective on the pandemic as viewed by the White House Task Force coordinator, Deborah Birx. She was in essence the leader of the Federal Government’s response, fashioning policy and guidance and then communicating that to state governors for implementation. It also reveals some of the internal tensions within the task force and at the highest levels in the White House. Ninety percent of the excerpts are from Dr. Birx’s book Silent Invasion.
In August 2020, five months after the formation of the White House Task Force, Dr. Scott Atlas, a healthcare policy expert from Stanford University, joined the task force at the request of President Trump. The excerpts from his book A Plague Upon Our House, provides his perspective, recommendations, and follow-on acceptance by the task force. He, too, reports on some of the internal tensions that transpired within the task force.
Typically, in the case of a spreading infectious disease like Covid-19, one of the first things done is to provide home/outpatient potential treatments for infections. This was amazingly absent in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic. This segment explores why not and what some such treatments were that could have been provided.
This is the first of three segments on means used to control the spread of the virus. Segment six focuses on “data” -- collection, analysis and accuracy plus “testing” – failures, types, accuracy and diagnostic and capacity limitations.
Lockdowns is one, if not the most, controversial policies enacted in the pandemic. This segment analyses why these decisions were made, its results worldwide, and the consequences in the United States – medically, economically, and socially.
Mask wearing (much of it mandated) is the longest lasting policy of the pandemic with a great deal of emotion surrounding it. The excerpts in this segment address the science supporting masks, the different types of masks, and the effectiveness of each type.
Overall, on almost every measurement – death rates, social and economic impacts, recovery costs, etc. – the United States did not score well on this pandemic. Additionally, the approach to the pandemic heightened the polarization already existing throughout the country, created massive loss of learning for our children, and devastated many, many small businesses. This segment looks at how the media and collectively our politicians aided and abetted these outcomes. One pandemic success story is also highlighted.
The collection of series in my blog www.learningwithharley.com have continually provided information on the decline and failure of our K-12 public school system as well as our colleges and universities. This pandemic significantly added to that decline. This segment explains why.
It is estimated that the Federal Government’s expenditures related to Covid’s recovery will total approximately $6 trillion. That includes $2.2 trillion for the 2020 CARES Act and $1.9 trillion for the 2021 American Rescue Plan. To put that spending into perspective the total revenue from income and social security taxes in 2019 was $3.1 trillion. So, Covid relief expenditures were the equivalent of two years of tax revenue. This segment details where some of the $6 trillion was spent.
Noted psychiatrist Mark McDonald posits on how America indeed suffered from a pandemic, but not a medical one. Instead, it was a pandemic of fear, and that supplied much of the suffering. Excerpts from his book United States of Fear provides the reasoning. Dr. Marc Siegel posits something similar in this book The Politics of Fear and the Power of Science.
Segment 13 is a short, general tutorial on vaccines – the types, how they work, how they are evaluated (clinical trials) and the approval process in the U.S. Then it turns to mRNA vaccines which include the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines including their clinical trial results. The segment finishes with potential problems with the Covid vaccines, why their manufacturers are not liable for any negative results, and the case for Covid vaccination hesitancy.
This segment is a debate on Vaccine Mandates. Retired Professor Alan Dershowitz from Harvard presents “The Case FOR Vaccine Mandates” in his book with that title. The “Case AGAINST Vaccine Mandates” is principally made by Kent Heckenlively, JD with additions from Deborah Birx in Silent Invasion and Alex Berenson from Pandemia.
Two theories exist as to the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The first theory concludes it is natural, emanating from a bat and then most likely jumping to humans via an intermediary animal. The second is that the virus in man-made via gain-of-function research conducted in the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China. It escaped from there as the result of shoddy safety precautions. Neither theory can be conclusively proven because of the Chinese Communist Party’s cover-up actions. However, there is strong circumstantial evidence as to which theory is valid which is delineated in the segment.
A prominent person throughout the Covid pandemic was Dr. Anthony Fauci. This segment provides some insights into his character, his career, his many controversial actions, and his twenty-year partnership with Bill Gates.
The Great Reset is a proposal fashioned by a group of international elites to change nearly every part of our global society with a soft authoritarian governance system. They view the pandemic as a significant opportunity to further their cause which they have successfully leveraged to date. This segment provides some of the details.