What data do we trust?
Remember the days of freedom?
It was 50-odd days ago that we all had the luxury of taking the simple joys of freedom for granted. We moved about freely, and enjoyed our lives and our work in Broomfield. We took our dogs to Anthem Lake; we attended our exercise classes at Paul Derda; we went for a dip in the pool and showered off in the locker room. We attended mass or church service with our friends and family at Nativity of Our Lord or Risen Savior; we ordered a large pizza at IPie and, on the way, we dropped off our extras at the food bank. If we were lucky, we had time to stop at King Soopers and pick up a meal. Maybe we shook hands with the helpful teller at TCF Bank and hugged the neighbor we ran into on the trail system while on our morning walk. We happily dropped the kids off at school thinking nothing of contamination, infection, germs, or this term called “social distancing.”
Safeway had ripe tomatoes, avocados, and garlic ready to greet us in the entryway, and the fruit was stacked in beautiful mounds, vibrant and plentiful. Coffee was brewing at Starbucks, and the donuts were warm from the oven and in their case within reach. Standing close to one another was a sign of comfort and friendship. Chatting with other customers in line made the chore of shopping a bit easier.
What simpler times those were, the mundane both comforting and reliable!
Are we now too steeped in hand sanitizer and fear while cowering in bunkers in our basement to remember what freedom is?
Those days are but a dream, a memory of a seemingly long-lost past. How did we get here? And how do we get back?
Critical Thinking and Courage is Key
For those of us who are tracking the data and have been skeptical from the get go the very first thing we need to be doing is demonstrating courage in our actions, and the second thing we need to do is to question everything!
This might seem obvious, but in an age of an overwhelming amount of information fighting for our consideration and charging at us at the speed of light, one must stop for a moment and consider . . . . what is the truth, what do I believe, who are the real experts, and what information should I cast aside?
Enter the Corona-Wuhan-COVID-19 virus, and Governor Polis declares a state of emergency on March 11, 2020. Thus begins the change. As we have seen while only paying marginal attention, a lot can happen in less than two months. Just weeks ago, we were celebrating the most vibrant economy experienced in the last one hundred years, and today we are at all-time lows. Admittedly, in the beginning, the virus was a mystery. We relied upon the “experts”, who would tell us tales of astronomical numbers of deaths to come due to this viral infection. Dr Neil Ferguson and his infamous model predicted 500,000 deaths in the UK and told tales of 2.2 million U.S. deaths. At the end of March, Dr. Zeke Emmanuel, architect of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) predicted that the Virus would spread by doubling daily to infect 100 million people within a month. That never happened; in fact, he was off by 99 percent.
For anyone just marginally paying attention -- and admittedly that seems to be more and more complicated to do due to our being commanded to stay in our homes and a swath of utter garbage on “news” channels -- we’ve known that there hasn't been death in the streets and body bags strewn about like we've seen on TV. So, since our eyes and ears haven't demonstrated to us that what we're being told is true is actually happening at the magnitudes and to the extent they would have us believe here in Colorado, what are we to properly believe? It seems as though the virus has spawned it’s own epic pandemic of misinformation.
The World Health Organization’s version of COVID-19 has its own version of myths. Even the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) claims it has all that you need to know about COVID-19.
And as of April 28, 2020, the actual number of COVID-19 cases in Broomfield is 145 cases in a county with a total population of 69,267 (as of 2018).
So, given the misinformation, myths, exaggeration, and downright untruths that are out there, what are we to believe?
Supporting Resources
Here we have gathered what we believe to be credible sources of information that have value in at least posing more questions. You will not see this on mainstream media. We hear much from the Center For Disease Control, Colorado Public Health and The World Health Organization but let’s have a look at other credible sources of information. These sources tend to be of individuals and settings that have first hand knowledge of the virus and epidemiology in general and are from those who are highly trained in the medical field:
1. https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/494034-the-data-are-in-stop-the-panic-and-end-the-total-isolation?fbclid=IwAR22Clrd7T0tjYn5VNug17PO3cKzPfpArvHI9JLLsygGY2bTYERMHX3EfqU
2. Dr Dan Erickson and Dr Artin Marsihi, Kern County, California https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwXuxLt75K8fbclid=IwAR2O6shsbNPK4s3xtJZf3e0bAhTqHZzAsbuS3JlZ4AFkE-awz4LH6LLTs_E
3. Dr Judy Mikovits- https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=youtube%20dr%20judy%20mikovits#id=2&vid=188105d041e23d773df8b76b169a21f4&action=click
4. Del BigTree- https://thehighwire.com/doctors-politicians-america-wake-up/
5. Dr Rashid Buttar- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFE1CQ-w6hI
6. Dr Scott W. Atlas- https://www.wnd.com/2020/04/stanford-doctor-5-reasons-stop-panic-end-total-isolation/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=PostBottomSharingButtons&utm_campaign=websitesharingbuttons&fbclid=IwAR2j1xAuMkHTgqqwpBMZKNHWMMSMK5xwvzs_R4r_9-GpRRaWuNqMhYSCMqk
Our Truth vs Their Fiction
It takes a bit of courage to go off the beaten path to locate credible information that is not readily available or in the mainstream on communication platforms. It takes courage -- as we have supported our City Council -- to demonstrate by ending the Stay at Home order, effective April 27th. In a special meeting held on April 24th, our community leaders opted to extend the order through May 8th, thereby further entrenching deleterious economic consequences and kicking our ability to rebuild down the road and away from what other counties are doing.
We have faith that our leaders will follow through on their word to end the Stay At Home orders, effective May 9, 2020.
What are Your Opinions?
We’re asking you to share your favorite bit of information and the source so that we may all benefit from expanding our understanding of this virus and our governments’ response to it.
Please send us your comments to broomfieldtaxpayermatters@gmail.com!
Stay well and be strong!
The Broomfield Taxpayer Matters Team