COVID-19 World Scare or World Scam?

Given what we know currently, is the COVID-19 hysteria justified or is it being used to scam an unsuspecting public? In this article, we look at the reasonableness of some of the actions taken by governments, specifically the South African government, in a bid to combat the COVID 19 pandemic.

We have just spent our first days in the Government enforced “lock down” in South Africa. So many questions remain unanswered in the face of such drastic action. What is probably more frightening, is the docile acceptance by so many people, of what, in effect amounts to almost martial law – normally reserved for the most extremes of cases. All simply, one could argue, because the world media has done such an excellent job of brainwashing and instilling panic and fear. Panic that still seems somewhat unjustified.

There is a theory that if you tell someone something often enough, they will eventually accept it as truth, especially if you hold a position of authority. We have been systematically bombarded, 24/7 by media stories of doom and gloom and apocalyptic speculation of what sort of future we face. Recently, fin24 produced this wildly speculatively and grossly under-substantiated article: https://m.fin24.com/Economy/Africa/nearly-half-of-jobs-in-africa-could-be-lost-due-to-coronavirus-un-warns-20200330

What is frightening is many if not most of the politicians on the continent are publicly elected personnel with little to no formal qualifications or training. In fairness to them, nothing could have prepared them for the matters they are currently deliberating upon for their respective countries.

Clearly, this is perspective is not the popular perspective, however, it is important that we interrogate the mainstream narrative by considering these salient points and seeking quantifiable answers before forming an opinion.

Some points to consider

Firstly, just exactly what is COVID 19? Well, basically, it is a virus that belongs in the same general family as that of the common flu. It appears to exhibit many similar symptoms. Beyond that, we are advised that the cough is likely to be a dry cough, lacking sputum and can lead to respiratory complications that make it difficult to breathe and can result in death.

At the time of writing this, we are approaching 785,000 cases worldwide which is most likely to be very underestimated. This is because, presently, only those exhibiting symptoms are tested with some travel terminals and borders being a small exception to this. Thus, taking the limiting testing factors and the high percentage of asymptomatic cases that pass undetected, it is reasonable to state that the actual numbers are considerably higher.

Approximately 38,000 people have died and again it is more than likely this number is somewhat higher due to inaccurate, incomplete data.

Thankfully, and perhaps not so surprisingly, more than 165,000 people have recovered from the virus. Once again there are likely to be many that unknowingly had the virus and recovered from what they thought was no more than a mild dose of the flu and then there’s also all the asymptomatic cases.

COVID-19 vs The Flu

By contrast, according to the CDC, the flu season (1^st October to 14^th March) in the USA ONLY, yielded 38,000,000 cases! 370,000 were hospitalized and 23,000 died and it was a GOOD year because in the 17/18 season more than 80,000 people died! Furthermore, according to the WHO, approximately 1 billion people worldwide contract the seasonal flu annually resulting in between 250,000 and 650,000 deaths.

Logic suggests that politicians should have no interest in these “over reactionary” steps being taken. In a world filled with strong leaders and good sense that would be true. In reality, modern-day politics bows very much to their big business sponsors and hence seldom takes any drastic steps without the “blessing” of big business and often at their direct behest.

We, therefore, have to ask ourselves, who stands to benefit from this and how?

The Sweet Shop Sale

The Chinese markets laid down a blueprint of what is being followed right across all the world stock markets. Their stocks crashed in a matter of days…… and then rose again very sharply. This is because the panic selling saw shares drop way below their true value and the cash-flush elite happily bought back those shares at vastly discounted values causing them to rocket back up again. I believe some big lessons were very quickly learned by the West and Europe: There, they have been buying up undervalued shares in a slower more stealthy manner so as not to drive the price up too quickly, thereby maximizing the enormous profit potential that this unusual volatility has provided. The Chinese markets have retraced somewhat again but, this is to be expected given the drop in worldwide consumption during the many government-enforced lockdowns.

Big Investors and companies alike, had the gifted opportunity to buy up large chunks of their own undervalued stocks like a giant sweet shop sale!

The potential outcome of the COVID-19 Saga

Many counties will experience a recession. Thousands of small to medium-sized companies will close. Many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people, will lose their jobs and ultimately their homes and vehicles. Many if not most, of their children may be forced to suspend or give up their tertiary education.

“Big Business” will reopen their doors when the dust settles quite nicely off. The following are just some of their benefits:

1. They will have received large government bailouts.
2. They will be able to easily offset any potential loss of profits during the lockdowns, simply by selling some of their newly acquired shares at a massive profit!
3. They will have downsized some of their surplus staff requirements, with government-funded assistance.
4. They will have closed down some of their smaller and less profitable subsidiaries.
5. most of their smaller, profit eroding competition will be out of business when things start up again.

Of critical importance, is how this all affects us here in South Africa!

We have enormously different conditions here and perhaps our socio-geographic disparities are the biggest. Much of our population still consists of migrant workers, who come into the cities to work. That demographic often cannot afford to house their family all under one roof. It is, therefore, common to send children to live with older relatives, back in rural areas. These older relatives are the primary child caregivers of a large percentage of all the children in South Africa! As a result of the lockdown, many of these working parents had to return back home into the rural areas.

Actual, aged and categorized data has already shown us that the COVID 19 is deadly to only a fraction of a percent of the working-age population. However, amongst the elderly, the death rate could be as high as 15!

In effect, this lockdown has now sent potential carriers right into the greatest concentration of the elderly, who, as posited above, are actually the main child-minders! The net effect is that there is a high likelihood that the lockdown will greatly augment the death rate in our country. This, in turn, could potentially leave thousands of children almost “orphaned”, unless their parents now give up their jobs to go back and look after them.

In conclusion, it is my argument that we don’t know enough, in that the current numbers are more of a best estimate rather than accurate data. Secondly, even if accurate, the current numbers still do not indicate that we are facing a bigger threat than the common flu! Our government’s actions, in response to this outbreak, have been to mimic the western world’s plans, instead of devising an African solution. These very actions could very well exacerbate our problem rather than contain it. Billions are being poured out, more to resolve the financial problems caused by the lockdown than actually to combat the limited risk that the virus actually represents in the first place!

For all we really know, we could just be submitting ourselves to a type of financial “chemo and radiation therapy”… When we don’t even have cancer!