Deep analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic: A complex interaction of scientific, political, economic and psychological facts and fakes
Preprint (PDF Available) ? June 2020
with 2,513 Reads
Stefano Raffaele Hellweg
Abstract
Fear of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread around the world. National borders are closed, the economy is shut down, and self-quarantining of millions of people have become the “new normal.” Early warnings regarding the readiness of large-scale RT-PCR testing in Europe, the existence of contradicting and ambiguous epidemiological data, and the striking similarities to the H1N1-pandemic scandal in 2009 could not prevent this global response to COVID-19. Vague definitions of “fatal COVID-19 cases”, unreliable RT-PCR tests as well as political, financial, and scientific special interests and often times biased news coverage by the mass media are also important factors. In this manuscript we demonstrate that COVID-19 is at most only equally as dangerous or even less dangerous than the seasonal flu of 2017/2018 or that of 2019/2020 in the US. Considering the degree of negligence of the World Health Organization (WHO) and many countries during the swine flu pandemic in 2009 as well as during past and ongoing public health programs in Europe and Africa in the management of quality-control procedures in the approval of diagnostic tests, vaccines, and other pharmacological agents, skepticism has taken an unusually distant back seat to panic. We encourage the use of critical thinking and rational evaluation of information in reaching informed decisions with respect to the upcoming vaccines and future pharmacological treatments for COVID-19...
