THE COVID-19 NEWS THAT NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR

The News About COVID-19

As promised, I need to report to you some information about what is likely coming regarding COVID-19. In order to be as accurate as possible, I delayed writing until we could spend an evening with Rachyl’s specialist because I wanted to hear directly from him outside the hospital setting, as I was not certain that he would feel at lease to share everything with hospital staff around, after Rachyl’s surgeries.

Last night we spent a couple of hours with him and his family and he went over, in detail, everything he knows at the present time. Keep in mind, this is a formed CDC scientist who worked in the national headquarters in Atlanta office. He is also a world class doctor who’s education includes fellowships at Yale and at the Imperial College London. He was a Department head at LSU and he was asked by the Governor of Louisiana to be part of the state COVID-19 response team, Additionally, as you know, he was completely spot on with his information that he shared with us last January. His information is what we shared with our political contacts back in Burlington at both the city and state level. They followed his recommendations to the letter and, today, Vermont has the highest level of vaccination of any state in AMERICA and the overall best record of COVID-19 response of any other state – so this is the best source of information I know that I can give you.

I am going to simply give you the important points as our friend shared them with us so you can make up your minds about how to apply this information to protect your own families.

1.  BE VERY DILLIGENT ABOUT KEEPING UP WITH REPORTS OF NEW VARIANTS IN YOUR AREA. This is going to be where the battle will be waged going forward. There is a new variant that is now a sort of amalgamation of the UK variant and the South African one. The curent vaccines are currently showing only about a 26% effectiveness against this variant! Keep in mind that the primary goal of any virus is to survive and it does so by creating variants (mutations) that fight to combat any vaccinations that stop it from spreading and becoming more virulent. That means that every person who is infected with COVID-19 going forward represents a new “mini laboratory” for the virus to develope these mutations.
2. HAVING SAID THAT, YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY GET THE CURRENT VACCINES IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO YET. The overwhelming evidence is the vaccines are safe and effective against the current strains of COVID-19 (with the possible exception of the one mentioned above). By containing current COVID-19 we reduce the possibilities of becoming a new place for the virus to mutate. Also, if you are fully vaccinated with our current vaccines, you will only need a booster shot when future vaccines are delveloped to control the future variants. That means you will likely not experience any of the unpleasnant after effects that some people have experienced after receiving the vaccination.
3. WE WILL NOT ACHIVE THE MUCH PUBLISHED “HERD IMMUNITY”AND THAT IS NOT GOOD NEWS. The simple truth is, with the politicizing of this virus and the critical time it has costed us, the nmber of people who are currentlysaying they will not be vaccinated makes this goal impossible. From a practical point of view, that means that the virus will not be stamped out by our current vaccinations. It’s like a fire that has not been completely put out before the fire department goes home. Essentially, the virus will continue to spread and mutate as time goes on. Based on past medical history, that sadly means our current vaccinations will eventually become ineffective and will need to be reengineered with booster shots in an attempt to control future outbreaks.
4. THIS PROBLEM IS A WORLDWIDE CRISIS! BUT WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT EVERY NATION THAT CURRENTLY DOES NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES TO GET THE VACCINES THEY NEED OR THE MEDICAL PERSONEL NECESSAY TO ADMINISTER THEM WILL REPRESENT PROTENTIAL “HOT BEDS” FOR THE VIRUS TO DEVELOPE VARIENT MUTATIONS. As we have already seen, by ignoring this critical point, we created the environment that caused this pandemic to develope in the first place! America must use it’s influence to bring the rest of the industrialized nations of the world to work together to fight this virus everywhere – not just in our own country. The world is too interconnected to ignore this. What we ignore “over there” soon travels back here.
5. ALL OF THIS MEANS THAT COVID-19 WILL CONTINUE TO BE AROUND FOR SOME TIME TO COME. The completely fool hearted decision of the Biden administration to try to use doing away with the mask mandates was an effort to try to get people to go ahead and get vaccinated. It has failed utterly and I have written our political contacts to state that fact in no uncertain terms. Look, we have been in about twenty of the states in the course of this medical trip we took for Rachyl. EVERYWHERE WE HAVE BEEN we have seen an utter disregard for any sort of mask wearing or even much social distancing in public. By foolishly putting this on a “honor system” basis, we opened the floodgates of people looking for any reason to ignore public safety measures. I should point out that the scientific information regarding the current use of masks among people who are fully vaccinated, was technically correct. But that short window of safety will change rapidly, as new variants become more prevalent.
6. THE UNFORTUNATE COMING RESULTS OF THE ABOVE FACTORS WILL LIKELY MEAN THAT WE WILL SEE AN ADDITIONAL LOSS OF LIFE – EQUAL TO WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN!!! That is the absolute worst information that we learned, Essentially, every model being done running the numbers of what we are facing now is verifying the fact that we will likely see localized “hot spots” developing with potentially expanding results. We may not see widespread outbreaks for a while, but, as the new variants spread, the prospects are NOT GOOD. Keep in mind that these numbers are based upon current factors, NOT potential problems that may arise if a more virulent variants develop. Sadly, that potential is being considered more likely than unlikely by top scientists.
7. WITH THE COMING INCREASED SPREAD OF COVID-19 DUE TO THE DROP OF MASK MANDATES, THE GROWING DISREAGARD OF SOCIAL DISTANCING, THE INCREASED SEASONAL TRAVEL, AND THE COMING REOPENING OF OUR SCHOOLS, WE ARE LIKELY HEADED TOWARDS A VERY SERIOUS SITUATION THIS WINTER WITH A RENEWAL OF LOCKDOWNS. Unfortunately, that will be the only tool available to our officials to combat new outbreaks.
8. BASED UPON PAST EXPERIENCES, THE NEW VARIANTS WILL VERY SOON BECOME THE DOMINANT FORMS OF THE VIRUS. Information from past outbeaks of similar diseases (such as HPV – Human Papaloma Virus) shows this will take place rather quickly. That is a whole new ballgame with no certain answers at present.
9. BUT THE WOST PROBLEMS WE FACE RIGHT NOW ARE HUMAN RATHER THAN VIRAL. I am saying that because there is still an environment of outright denial, of using this crisis for political rather than public health priorities, and oddly enough from people who had a “light case” of COVID-19. Look, all of us are wanting to see an end to this crisis. Unfortunately, for many people, they are not willing to deal with the realities we are facing. This will become even more obvious as we head into the Mid Term Elections next year. Misinformation and division will likely remain one of our worst enemies.
10. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY? You need to assume personal responsibility how you proceed. Every situation is different given not everyone has school age children, pre-existing health conditions, or the same opportunities for social contacts. YOU NEED TO DECIDE WHEN, AND IF YOU QUIT WEARING A MASK IN PUBLIC, HWO YOU PRACTICE SOCIA. DISTANCING AND WHAT SOCIAL EVENTS YOU ATTEND. You should obviously continue practices of frequent hand washing. You should always have a mask with you should you find yourself in a situation where someone is coughing and you should NOT apologize for putting on a mask anytime you feel it is needed. Tell people that you have someone at home who is at an increased health risk. (You do…YOU!) You need to monitor your news information sources carefully and you should not trust only one source of news information. I frequently monitor news sources reporting in other areas of the world who are experiencing increased outbreaks. It is simple to do so online. And, you should continue to have a plan for having some additional food supplies and household essentials on hand should we experience shortages again.

Sorry, I wish this could have been better news to convey. But, I have had many… MANY people who have contacted me this past year and have expressed their gratitude for the information I shared when this first started. A lot of people will doubtless think I’m being an alarmist once again. All I can tell you is when I shared some of the messages of gratitude with our specialist friend last night, Rachyl and I saw him actually cry. He immediately tried to regain his composure, because I’m pretty sure scientists types and top medical people are taught not to show their emotions. 

But, like my usual self, I was relentless!!! I told him that I knew he had taken a lot of grief from colleagues who didn’t agree with his assessments at the start. I’m NOT someone who lets people get away with hiding their feelings very easily. He finally looked me straight in the eye and said, “I knew that God was requiring me to speak up. I was even more certain when all of the naysayers started putting me down until the proof was obvious to everyone.” He then said, “That’s when I understood how Elijah nad Jeremiah must have felt.” That’s about as much of a statement of faith as any medical scientists will ever give you! Apparently, a number of people were against him because he was sharing clear statements about the situation and they didn’t like the fact that it was a Democrat Governor IN LOUISIANA (!!!) that he was working with. He told me that currently about 40% of people in Louisiana believe that the whole thing was a hoax. (If you believe that, then I’d love to introduce you to some “flat earth” people or some people who don’t believe that gravity exists. They will love having you as a new member.)

What we are facing is NOT over. It will require personal integrity and a willingness to travel our own path regardless of what others think. At the end of the day, God is still in control of everything. If I was going to tell you what I think is most important, I would have to say, listen in quiet to His calming voice. Even if you are someone who isn’t sure you believe He is even there… it won’t cost you anything to listen. Don’t let politicians and friends set your own course. There is Someone else who is MUCH better equipped to do that.

Blessings,

Steven Phillips