Open letter on lockdowns to Philippine governors, mayors, and legislators
Dear Local Chief Executives and Legislators,
Within the next few days, President Rodrigo Duterte will make the decision whether to ease or retain the lockdown. You will be faced with the tough decision whether to agree or not.
You will be making your decision amidst the meltdown of Philippine society including millions experiencing lockdown fatigue, millions without jobs, millions of micro-livelihoods gone, billions lost in our economy, and increasing violence, depression and suicides.
But some of you may still think that all these tragic implosions are worth the price of saving lives. Before finalizing your response, kindly consider the following evidence-based facts.
Just yesterday, six hundred (600) medical doctors in the US appealed to US President Trump to lift the lockdown. They said that lockdowns are a ‘mass casualty incident’, that could result in deaths larger than COVID-19 deaths.1600 Physicians Say Lockdowns Are A “Mass Casualty Incident”
Sixty (60) medical doctors from Europe wrote an Open Letter to European policy makers and the general public. The medical doctors explained scientifically why children can go back to school. COVID-19 hardly affects children and the latter do not infect others.260+ Doctors And Educators Release Statement On The Situation Of Children And Adolescents During The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic
A recent article reports on an individual who tested positive for COVID-19 and had contact with 455 other people. None of the latter were infected with COVID-19.3Study Shows Low Infectivity Of Some Asymptomatic SARS-COV-2 Carriers
Kary Mullis invented the PCR equipment used in the rapid RT-PCR tests for COVID-19. In 1993, he won the Nobel Prize for his invention. Until his death in 2019, he criticized the use of the PCR as a diagnostic tool. PCR tests would result in many false readings. His warnings were ignored. Now researchers and scientists are beginning to suspect that most of the numbers of reported infections are artificial constructs of RT-PCR tests.4Faulty COVID-19 Tests: Why Prisoners Love Their Jailers And Never-Ending Lockdowns So massive use of RT-PCR tests will not guide you to determine when to lift a lockdown.
Then there is the case of Sweden which is surviving the COVID-19 challenge without a lockdown. Foreign Affairs, the highly influential journal for foreign policy makers around the world, cites the Swedish response as an important exemplar for the world.5Sweden’s COVID-19 Strategy Will Soon Be The World’s
All these current developments shed a powerful light on the Philippine experience.
- The number of infections “seems” to be growing but the rate of infections has significantly declined since the early part of April.
- People are dying but the death rate, how fast people are dying, is decreasing.
- The deaths being counted are mostly non-COVID deaths. Deaths from other illnesses are mixed with COVID-19 deaths. The true death rate is lower.
- The COVID-19 death rate is closer to flu in virulence. Would you shut down your area because of flu?
- More than 57,000 people die of pneumonia yearly. But we had no lockdowns.
In essence, COVID-19 is not a deadly as we all once feared. Initial lockdown was necessary when we had less data. But now the scientific evidence for lifting the lockdown is overwhelming.6For more details, see Nicanor Perlas, Open Letter to and Briefing Paper for President Rodrigo Duterte Many countries are starting to move away from lockdowns.
Your choice indeed is tough. You want to save lives but you may have more blood in your hands. Not paying attention to the science, the world experience and our own data, may result in a tragic disaster of your own making. Your cure (more lockdowns) could be worst than the disease itself. The six hundred (600) doctors clearly demonstrate where the lockdown deaths will be coming from.
For the sake of your own citizens and your own conscience, please ease the lockdowns. If your area will be identified as low risk, accept it with thankfulness, not fear. If your area is marked as high risk, petition for a lower-risk category if warranted.
Our team of researchers can provide more data if you wish. Or you can visit our website at www.covidcalltohumanity.org. You can also reach me at nperlas@protonmail.com.
Sincerely,
(Sgd) Nicanor Perlas
A Concerned Citizen, Alternative Nobel Prize Awardee, and Former Undersecretary Designate, DENR
General Nakar is COVID-19 free since the implementation of the lockdown. The arguement of choosing between the cause and effects of the lockdown is somehow spatial. The town was able to cope the new normal and i think we still have to continue implementing the lockdown. The point is, although there are scientific evidences of correlating the issues of claimed evidences, yet there are still cases of “no travel history” yet found out to be positive. There is no solid explanation to that so I guess we should continue the lockdown giving us ample time on working on vaccines and proper medications.
Thanks for your comments, Erberto. Kindly check the article on faulty covid tests to gain an idea of why people with no travel history are positive. And vaccines are so contentious since decades and also today. The first experimental COVID-19 vaccines did not succeed. See our articles on this website. The best way forward is to strengthen our natural immune system which can easily overcome a virus which is not more deadly than the common flu. See my latest article on 01 July 2020.
We have to allow more time so we could fully adjust and adapt to a C19 environment..
Pinning our hope to the vaccine is not practical..1.it will take 1 to 2 yrears before a vaccine coyld be fully tested
Thanks for the comment on the vaccines, Ted. But we have to watch carefully what the “new normal” will be. Better for our immune system to adapt and thrive in a C19 environment for this virus will be with us for a long time. (This is a very involved topic that I may need to elaborate at some point in the future.)
I subscribe to the idea to END this ordeal, based on not real, inaccurate or even rigged data, flawed science, and highly questionable agenda. There are highly credible internet sites and sources to gather the truth from. Mainstream sources are not the most reliable. Basic requirement is to be open, exercise critical thinking and consider that we may have been bred, cultured and fed with untruths for the longest time.
Well said, Pamela, especially the need to critical cross-check what mainstream media is feeding the public. Thanks.
I fully agree that the covid-19 has brought a lot of depression globally! Fear was instilled in the minds of the people. Let us be open to all possibilities of medicine discovered by our country men. One good Example is the discovery of Dr. Fabunan, test it first before, going to so many process of DOH requirements. We have to address the immediate problem, a cure for COVID, instead of imposing on
so many rules.
Thanks for the call to openness, Ptra. Togle. And one key aspect of this openness is to have a deep exploration on the power of our natural immune system to cure COVID-19. For one, the studies should explore why the vast majority of the populations, where studied, already have antibodies for COVID-19. See the studies of Stanford University and Los Angeles County that are found in this website.
What happened to Italy, USA, UK, and other countries should also be studied in connection with this proposal. We cannot just theorize because those cases are happening just before us. The sudden rise of the number of deaths can never be ignored. There should also be a scientific analysis why those number of deaths took place.
There are many different narratives about what happened in these countries, and the fatality rates being recorded are also anomalous. A quick search on this website should help clarify what I mean. To begin, I would like to recommend these articles:
99% of Coronavirus Deaths in Italy Had Other Illnesses, The tale of two fatality rates, Why Russia has a very low COVID-19 death rate.
Moreover, it would be important for us to also look at the other researches that helps clarify the nature of this virus so that we can begin to look at this objectively. Here are some of the newer posts: Japan’s COVID-19 strategy, Evidence clear: True political leaders should lift lockdown, Singapore study shows COVID-19 patients no longer infectious after 11 days
I am a senior citizen. To be honest about it, I am contemplating on suing our provincial government for curtailing my freedom to be productive and of help to a countryside indigenous community I am servicing. I am quiet healthy as I could trek up and down hills quicker than many others. But the provincial government’s order to limit movement of healthy and productive seniors like me could not only adversely affect my immune system, but it is a violation of my constitutional rights.
Stands for standing up, Philip. The nation’s policies should really be more flexible. But this can only happen when doctors stop relying on faulty tests while ignoring going deeply into an examination of real symptoms, thereby enabling them to distinguish between those with health versus compromised immune systems.
The Diamond Princess Cruise Ship provides a perfect model for us to study the true danger posed by the Covid19 Virus. It was a “Floating Petri Dish” of infection.
Among the more than 3,700 passengers and crew aboard the Diamond Princess, 712 became infected with the coronavirus.
This resulted in TEN deaths.
It is good to remember that the average age of passengers on the ship was 62 years old, with the oldest being 93. It is now widely known that Covid19, IN GENERAL, is only deadly to older people.
So the takeaways from this ideal model is that….
Even with such close proximity to each other, almost 3,000 of the passengers were NOT infected.
Of the 712 people who WERE infected, only 10 died.
Of all passengers on board this “Floating Petri Dish” the actual death rate was 1/370 …. LESS THAN 0.4%
Excellent point, Steve, especially within a context of aggravation which could make the immune system malfunction. This is one of many researches used to calm people down: inflection is not equal to death. In between stands the power of the immune system.