Are people dying of COVID-19 or with COVID-19?

Is fear consuming us rather than good common sense and demanding answers?

Mask makers have made it into big business via COVID. Image: Etsy

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been releasing data almost on a daily basis for months, updating their findings on COVID-19, a virus which has invaded every country in the world -- though we knew little about what made it tick.

Much of the information contradicts itself and is a roller coaster of fact or fiction.

In fact, the CDC has admitted that of Americans who have died from COVID-19, only 6% of deaths had COVID-19 as the only cause mentioned, revealing that 94% of patients who died from coronavirus also had other “health conditions and contributing causes.”

So as our country functions in contradictory medical information and total fear, I would like to throw some thoughts out to you as a former nurse who worked on an infectious disease floor in a regional hospital -- during the AIDS epidemic.

My commentary below is in no way to be construed as my being "an expert" in COVID-19, but rather a "common sense searcher."

So here it goes in no particular order. Just call them "ponder points" from someone who does not enjoy seeing our country crippled in fear:

Initially we were told to glove up because COVID-19 was a "contact virus." So people ran to the stores and purchased useless vinyl gloves. They were safe -- their hands were covered with vinyl gloves which offered no protection whatsoever. Also any hand covering being worn all day is equivalent to a bare, bacteria ridden hand.

Then the respiratory virus (not intestinal virus) caused every roll of toilet paper to be emptied off store shelves. Tylenol for the initial low grade fevers was in plentiful supply though. I was in a store one day and a man jumped on a shelf to retrieve a roll of paper towels and happily called out to me -- "People don't need toilet paper as long as we have paper towels." I replied "what better way to make friends with your plumber."

I was chastised by a woman in a supermarket one day because I did not follow the arrows in the aisle and was walking the "wrong way." Still can't figure that concept out. Must have had to do with the quality of directional air. She was very annoyed with me so I said "please don't tell on me -- I don't want to be arrested." She couldn't leave the aisle fast enough.

Then we come to the masks. If we had only known that home-made cloth, designer masks were going to be the business opportunity of a lifetime. Who needs masks intended for medical use when we can promote our favorite political candidate, cartoon character or sports team? Ask Vistaprint - the company who makes business cards how much they have gained in revenue with their over-priced designer cloth masks -- made in China.

You might be interested in knowing that medical professionals in a hospital, following protocol, gown up, glove up and mask up for each patient diagnosed with an infection. Upon leaving the patient's bedside, the gown, gloves and masks are disposed of in a bio-hazard bin with a lid on it.

Where are the bio-hazard bins for people to dispose of the "COVID-19 prevention gear" they are wearing? People wouldn't be wearing the same mask day after day -- some while driving alone in a car -- with the same bacteria and droplets on it, would they?

Has the CDC issued any directive that designer cloth masks can be safely laundered to kill any virus residue on it?

Who thought of the expression "social distancing" denoting isolation? Why wasn't the term "physical distancing" encouraged to be used? Social distancing resulted in churches being closed, schools being closed, small businesses being closed, hospitals and nursing homes banning families from visiting their sick and dying family members. We allowed this to happen out of fear.

When I wrote about the misuse of masks, I had a "medical coder" admonish me for downplaying the deaths due to COVID-19. I challenged the medical coder and asked how she knew to attribute a patient's death to COVID-19. She advised me that the doctor would tell her to code it that way.

Since I know autopsies are not being performed on patients whose deaths are being attributed to COVID-19, I asked how the doctor could make the call of COVID-19 if there were no autopsy. There was no reply back.

And what "think tanker" thought of the term "the new normal?" This is not the new normal, the old normal or the normal. It is the "abnormal." We are living in an abnormal state right now -- not a new normal.

Young children are now out and about wearing masks to breathe in their own carbon dioxide and not build their immune systems up. They are also self-isolated with no interaction in schools.

How long do you believe it will be before there is a medical condition for children being isolated from friends and schools? It will be similar to a PTSD and the pharmaceutical companies will be at the doors of the FDA promoting "a pill" to treat children for this "Childhood COVID-19 Social Isolation."

I recommend to anyone with young students in high school that they invest in a law school for them. Imagine the lawsuits against nursing homes, hospitals, physicians, schools, pharmacies and the list goes on when this "closedown of America" comes to an end of insanity.

This article is dedicated to "Mark" a young man I met one night while working with AIDS patients in my hospital. I walked in the room and he was laying in the bed -- his skin covered in purple lesions from the horrible disease that isolated so many people and caused such fear.

I walked over to Mark to talk with him and with the saddest eyes, he told me his family, friends and co-workers had deserted him because of his diagnosis. He was alone -- and he was scared. I sat on the edge of his bed and cradled him in my arms. Mark begged me not to touch him -- that I would catch AIDS. I held him and told him he was no longer alone and did not have to be afraid. In a short time, Mark took his last breath in my arms. I will never forget Mark and the experience that night.

We all deserve to live our lives without fear and isolation. If nothing else, it is called "common sense."