“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein
“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” ― George Carlin
“You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.” ― Harlan Ellison
Given the vast and absurd stupidity that’s out-plaguing the plague, I figured it would take at least four cogent quotes to adequately demonstrate my dismay with our “progressive” politicians and their left-wing lackeys who somehow manage to make rabid Trump supporter look sane by comparison.
But before we go “once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,” let’s take a look at the more than reasonable current COVID numbers because, with the exception of one downstate newspaper, no one’s interpreting them in any manner that would even begin to approximate reality.
Given my vast frustration with all this bovine manure, this piece will likely lead to a part two, too:
Total Newly Total Daily Total Mortality
Date Cases % Increase New Cases Tested Prevalence Deaths Deaths Tests Rate %
11/6 465,000 4.0 18,049 98,401 1 in 5.4 10,084 48 2.2
11/7 477,438 2.6 12,438 98,418 1 in 7.9 10,160 76 2.1
11/8 478,447 2.0 10,009 90,757 1 in 9.0 10,202 42 2.1
11/9 489,020 2.2 10,573 64,760 1 in 6.1 10,216 14 2.0
11/10 501,643 2.5 12,623 101,955 1 in 8.0 10,294 79 2.0
11/11 514,300 2.5 12,657 93,464 1 in 7.3 10,440 145 2.0
11/12 527,002 2.4 12,702 100,671 1 in 7.9 10,483 43 1.9
11/13 542,417 2.9 15,415 106,540 1 in 6.9 10,526 27 1.9
11/14 553,445 2.0 11,028 114,370 1 in 10.3 10,692 166 1.9
11/15 564,076 1.9 10,631 84,831 1 in 7.9 10,764 72 1.9
11/16 575,708 2.0 11,632 90,612 1 in 7.7 10,801 37 9,161,453 1.8
11/17 588,309 2.1 12,601 94,205 1 in 7.4 10,898 97 9,255,658 1.8
11/18 597,231 1.5 8,922 103,569 1 in 11.6 11,038 140 9,359,227 1.8
11/20 611,843 2.4 14,612 113,447 1 in 7.7 11,206 168 9,472,674 1.8
11/21 623,734 1.9 11,891 120,284 1 in 10.1 11,333 127 1.8
11/22 633,746 1.5 10,012 92,437 1 in 7.7 11,408 75 1.8
11/23 642,068 1.3 8,322 91,562 1 in 11.0 11,455 47 1.7
11/24 651,537 1.4 9,469 97,323 1 in 10.2 11,580 125 1.7
11/25 662,915 1.7 11,378 114,233 1 in 10.0 11,735 155 1.7
11/26 674,937 1.8 12,022 107,566 1 in 8.9 11,866 131 1.7
11/27 682,511 1.1 7,574 77,130 1 in 10.1 11,932 66 10,289,223 1.7
11/28 690,384 1.1 7,873 79,055 1 in 10.0 12,039 107 1.7
11/29 697,562 1.0 7,178 62,740 1 in 8.7 12,096 57 1.7
11/30 703,752 0.8 6,190 66,980 1 in 10.8 12,181 85 10,497,998 1.7
My fondest wish is this chart will display correctly on the blog. Regardless, lets take a look at the all-too-obvious trends
1. Despite media and Geneva City Council proclamations, the daily case trend is DOWN!
It doesn’t take a genius to see that, despite consistently robust testing, the daily COVID case number has toppled from 18,049 on 11/6 to four consecutive sub-8,000 case days. So, not only has the disease failed to “explode,” as the pandemic panic porn prone press would have you believe, but it appears that herd immunity is running its course despite Governor Pointless’ worst efforts to forestall the inevitable.
And don’t try and tell me it’s a result of Pritzker’s “mitigations,” because no one’s paying attention to him or them anymore. We’ll get to that in part two.
2. The prevalence has settled to 1 in 10.
And that’s the ONLY number that matters!
The “infection rate” the Governor and press love to quote is flippin’ meaningless! It only tells us the infection rate FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN TESTED THAT DAY. And that number is skewed by too many rapid test false positives and the State counting the same positive test up to four times.
For review purposes, the current prevalence trend tells us, for every ten people tested, one is infected with the virus – and that’s ALL it tells us.
But when we compare the current prevalence to the June and July, 1 in 30 variety, it unequivocally means the disease has become more contagious, but less severe. How do we know this? Because back in July, 1,200 average daily cases translated into 322 average daily COVID occupied ICU beds.
But our far more massive 9,900-average November daily cases led to just 980-average daily COVID occupied ICU beds. Put more simply, 8.25 times the cases meant only 3 times the ICU beds. Those numbers come straight from the Illinois Department of Health, and they’re statistically significant beyond any and all reasonable doubt. So if you argue with me about this, I will show up at your front door.
3. Moving or rolling average case numbers are just as meaningless
This is yet another bovine excrement number that both Pritzker and the press love to cite. But you can’t calculate a meaningful daily case moving average without considering the corresponding testing number, particularly when the daily November testing range ran the gamut from 63,000 to 120,000.
I realize the average newspaper reporter’s IQ is nothing to write home about, but we’re only talking basic ninth grade math here! And isn’t simply regurgitating a State of Illinois press release essentially the same thing as printing propaganda?
4. The Illinois mortality rate continues to fall
For the 3,986th time, our COVID-19 mortality rate has plunged from 4.8 percent on July 4 to 1.7 percent on November 23. That’s a 282 percent decline, again, in the face of our previously noted 825 percent daily case increase!
Remove a criminally negligent 6,047 Illinois long-term care facility deaths from that number and the mortality rate plummets to 0.8 percent. And we’re still trying to shut down the state for a disease that’s not nearly what it’s cracked up to be? Take out the over-70 age group deaths and the .002 percent mortality is far milder than the annual flu has ever been!
But what really makes my blood boil is this! Governor Pritzker, who brutally attacked former Governor Bruce Rauner for the 13 Quincy veteran’s home Legionnaire’s Disease deaths, now has the blood of 27 LaSalle Home veterans on his hands. Don’t tell me any of those LaSalle residents were out enjoying a nice indoor restaurant dinner, either.
So, when I see those insipid signs thanking the Governor for saving Illinois lives, I want to immediately throw up on them because Pritzker hasn’t saved lives, he’s cost many Illinoisians theirs! By his own anti-Rauner logic, he’s directly responsible for every last one of those 6,047 needless and tragic nursing home deaths.
Oh! But it gets better! The Illinois agency charged with investigating negligent long-term care facility deaths hasn’t reviewed a single of those 6,047 reckless homicides because the Governor told them not too!
On Thursday we’ll review how:
- Eminently preventable obesity is a major COVID co-morbidity factor
- Our healthcare workers did sign onto this
- No one’s paying attention to the Governor anymore because he’s lost the consent of the governed
- Governors Newsome, Pritzker, and Cuomo will not be reelected
- With rare exception, this liberal is never vote for a Democratic again.
We’ll also talk about the shift from my weekly columns to the DOA with Jeff Ward podcast tomorrow or Thursday! Until then!
