Continued lockdown worse than virus, doctors say

FPI / May 22, 2020

Continued enforced lockdowns are a bigger threat to Americans' physical and mental health than the coronavirus, physicians said on a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.

“I just feel that’s there’s a very big disconnect between what the average American thinks is going on and what’s actually going on,” Dr. Simone Gold, an emergency room physician, said on the call, Breitbart News reported.

Fear of dying from the virus is being fomented by the media, the physicians said.

“All you have to do is watch the six o’clock news here in L.A. to know why they are avoiding the health care system,” Dr. Steven Giannotta, the chairman of neurosurgery at the University of Southern Californian, said on the call. “Because we’ve allowed the media … to stigmatize COVID positivity.”

Giannotta added: "They give two statistics every time — they open their newscast with the number of people who have tested positive for COVID and immediately adjacent to that, the number of people who have died with COVID making, unfortunately, in the viewer’s mind, a nexus between COVID positivity and death. It’s stigmatized our health care system and people are afraid to access the health care system for fear of becoming COVID positive, as if that is the worst possible outcome."

It is far more dangerous to stay at home if you have a serious health condition that needs regular treatment, Giannotta said.

Dr. Robert Hamilton, a pediatrician in California, noted “the emotional and social toll that this is taking on children being in lockdown for this period of time. Issues of depression, suicide, stress, that sense of futility, despair, fear, and paranoia really, are taking hold in our young people,”

Hamilton said that the Los Angeles Times reported that online learning is not replacing either experiences and that 15,000 students have disappeared as it related to being in touch with teachers online and some 40,000 students have failed to check in daily.

Dr. Mark McDonald, a psychiatrist who specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry, said that “in my view, this is a pandemic of hysteria and emotional overload. Beyond a medical pandemic. And the downstream consequences medically are very, very severe.”

The conference call was hosted by the Tea Party Patriots Action. “There are more than one million licensed physicians in this country,” the group's new A Doctor A Day website states. “Do you really believe there is only one opinion? Thousands of physicians have something to tell you. America needs a second opinion.”

In other coronavirus news:

Minnesota allows 50 people in restaurants, limits churches to 10

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, announced on Wednesday that restaurants will be able to host up to 50 customers in outdoor seating. But, the governor said indoor and outdoor church services will still be limited to 10 people.

Regarding why restaurants could host 50 people outdoors but religious centers could not, Walz said there is "not a perfect answer." He claimed that the decision-making was based on the "predictability" of the venue but then said that many religious gatherings have predictable crowds.

"I think, and I'm hearing strongly on this, of trying to figure out how we make that happen because I think the logic behind it, and I think, again, it was the predictability of who's there. But I think you could argue, 'Boy, I see the same people every Sunday at my congregation and, in fact, the Smiths sat in the same pew every year for 30 years, so we know exactly where they're at and we know exactly where they are,' " Walz said.

The Catholic Church in Minnesota said it will defy Walz's order.

In a letter issued Wednesday, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said: "The bishops of Minnesota are united in our conviction that we can safely resume public Masses in accordance with both our religious duties and with accepted public health and safety standards. We can worship in a way that reflects both the love of God and the love of our neighbors," the letter from seven bishops reads, citing the Book of Mark in the New Testament. "Therefore, we are giving our parishes permission for the resumption of the public celebration of Mass on Tuesday, May 26, which will give us time to be ready for the celebration of Pentecost on May 31."

"We are blessed to live in a nation that guarantees the free exercise of religion. This right can only be abridged for a compelling governmental interest, and only in a way that is narrowly tailored to be the least restrictive means of achieving the desired end. That is why a large majority of states now allow in-person religious services, including many states that had previously suspended in-person religious services," the letter reads.

Maine lawmakers: Gov. Mills has 'exceeded her authority'

A group of Maine legislators sent a letter Monday to Attorney General William Barr, requesting an investigation into the coronavirus lockdown orders of Democrat Gov. Janet Mills.

In the letter, made available to Breitbart News, the lawmakers say Mills “has exceeded her executive authority.”

In a memo to the Department of Justice in April, Barr directed all U.S. attorneys to be watchful of coronavirus restrictions that could violate Americans’ constitutional rights.

Among the specific concerns the lawmakers cite are Mills’ “arbitrary distinction between ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’ businesses; denial of Maine citizens’ “right to assemble” in churches with gatherings of more than 10 people; and her executive order “establishing quarantine restrictions on travelers arriving in Maine.”

State Rep. Larry Lockman, one of the legislators who signed the letter, told Breitbart News that Mills "ordered churches, restaurants, motels, state parks, and campgrounds to close their doors as ‘non-essential’ enterprises, while allowing abortion clinics and ice cream parlors to carry on business as usual. Mom-and-pop retailers have been shut down, but the big box stores never missed a beat.”

Hydroxychloroquine certified ‘most effective therapy’ in poll of doctors

An international poll of more than 6,000 doctors released on Thursday found that hydroxychloroquine was the most highly rated treatment for the coronavirus.

The survey conducted by Sermo, a global health care polling company, of 6,227 physicians in 30 countries found that 37 percent of those treating COVID-19 patients rated hydroxychloroquine as the “most effective therapy” from a list of 15 options.

Of the physicians surveyed, 3,308 said they had either ordered a COVID-19 test or been involved in caring for a coronavirus patient, and 2,171 of those responded to the question asking which medications were most effective.

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave chloroquine and its next-generation derivative, hydroxychloroquine, emergency-use authorization Monday for treating the coronavirus, although the drug was already being used off-label by some doctors and hospitals for COVID-19 patients," Washington Times reporter Valerie Richardson noted.

The Sermo survey also found that the most commonly prescribed treatments for coronavirus are analgesics (56%), azithromycin (41%) and hydroxychloroquine (33%).

Azithromycin, known by the brand name Zithromax or Z-Pak, was rated the second-most effective therapy at 32 percent, followed by “nothing,” analgesics (including acetaminophen), anti-HIV drugs and cough medicine.

To wear a mask, or not to wear a mask

Michigan's attorney general called on President Donald Trump to adhere to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's lockdown order and wear a face mask for his visit to a Ford Motor Co. plant in Ypsilanti on Thursday.

“While my Department will not act to prevent you from touring Ford’s plant, I ask that while you are on tour you respect the great efforts of the men and women at Ford – and across this state – by wearing a facial covering," Dan Nessel wrote in an open letter to Trump on Wednesday. "It is not just the policy of Ford, by virtue of the Governor’s Executive Orders. It is currently the law of this State."

But Erik Kiilunen, a Michigan businessman leading a rebellion against the governor’s stay-at-home orders, said of the president’s visit, “I hope he doesn’t wear a mask.”

“The whole world is overreacting to something that’s, in my opinion, less deadly than the flu,” Kiilunen said. “I started doing the math. You take the total people dead in the state of Michigan from COVID — it’s 5,017. We’ve got 10 million residents, and the [mortality rate] is .005%. We’re letting ‘perfect’ get in the way of the good.”

Kiilunen, who owns a contracting business in Ahmeek in the state’s upper peninsula, said he is defying Whitmer’s business restrictions and is encouraging others to do the same.

“I’ve really dedicated the last three weeks of my life to trying to get Michigan to wake up,” Mr. Kiilunen said. “It’s just insanity what’s going on here. It’s Orwellian right now.”

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