Journalism, 27 Questions and The Swine Flu
The sinking of the Titanic
In Sept 2020, a friend of mine engaged with a senior Australian journalist.
The goal was to provide significant data and research that would help him, and his mainstream newspaper uncover the lie that was being told to the Australian public. That the virus lethality was wildly exaggerated and that Australian deaths at that point (and still today) are predominantly deaths in high dependency aged care. The very old and very frail. The same group that would pass away if the flu or a bout of gastro swept through their facility.
It was being presented as a scourge that could kill anybody at any time, and that simply was not true in either letter or spirit. It’s danger to society was then as it is now the equivalent of a bad flu season. See point no.7 here:
9 Insights to help you understand your latest Lockdown (Sydney Edition - July 2021)
The journalist accepted the facts and started to work on the story. The first step was to use Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to extract the relevant data for the State health departments.
Below is the list of questions that were developed for the journalist and were sent around the country. To cut a long story short, the information was not forthcoming from the government. What was received were part answers, obfuscation and claims of “unavailability”. The government was (and is) either NOT collecting the data, giving itself plausible deniability, or simply withholding it in breach of the law.
The list of questions, that I recently bumped into in my inbox, are are as relevant today as they were 11 months ago. The country at large is still ignorant to the answers.
27 Questions
Sept 2020
Here is my first pass at 20 (in fact 27) questions for each state and territory. They CANNOT say they don’t have this information, given the gravity of the situation.
1. A “COVID-19 death” in Australia is defined by the department of health as any death in a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case, unless there is a clear alternative cause of death that cannot be related to COVID-19 (e.g. trauma).
Please confirm that this is regardless of what the actual or primary cause of death was.
2. Please advise how many people in [Australia/your state] who have been recorded as a “COVID-19 death” were “probably” cases as opposed to “confirmed” cases.
3. The CDC in the USA advises that across 200,000 or so COVID-related deaths only around 6% had COVID listed as the only cause of death on their death certificates. Is that number accurate here?
4. If not, what is the accurate number?
5. This data has been withheld in Australia. Why?
6. Have any deaths in Australia actually been from COVID-19? I.e. has any person that was otherwise fit and well actually died from COVID-19 and COVID-19 alone?
7. If so, please advise how many people in [Australia/your state] who have been recorded as a “COVID-19 death” had COVID-19 listed as their only cause of death on their death certificate.
8. Please also advise of their ages, and whether they were a resident of an aged care facility at the time of their death (including if they died in hospital a resident of an aged care facility prior to their hospitalisation).
9. The CDC suggests, of those who did not have COVID-19 as the only cause of death on their death certificate the average number of other causes listed was three (3) additional causes Is that number accurate here?
10. In [Australia/your state], of those who did not have COVID-19 as the only cause of death on their death certificates, what was the average number of other causes of death noted on their death certificates?
11. And what were the top other causes of death?
12. Why is this data not provided to the public given the importance of it informing who is at risk?
13. In [Australia/your state], how many people have been recorded as “confirmed” or “probably” cases despite not having COVID-19 listed on their death certificate at all?
14. Given the seriousness of this data and the importance of it to inform public health policy and much broader policy for the community why is there a need for a “probably” case to be recorded at all. Surely if COVID-19 played any serious role in their death it could be confirmed. Please explain.
15. According to data on health.gov.au more than 92% of the recorded “cases” in Australia have been in the community – i.e. not in aged care facilities (“Community Cases”). This is fully 26,948 Community Cases. Can you confirm that is correct.
16. How many deaths have resulted from these infections?
17. What were their ages and for each was COVID-19 confirmed or probable?
18. And was COVID the only cause of death listed on their death certificate.
19. Around 85-90% of the deaths (670 as at 30 September according to health.gov.au) have been in aged care facilities/settings (including the 7 in at-home aged care) from a total of only 2,131 cases.
20. Please provide the confirmed case numbers and age group numbers for these deaths and confirmed cases.
21. Please advise how many people in [Australia/your state] who have been recorded as a “COVID-19 death” were in palliative care (dying from some other cause) at the time of their death.
22. Of the recorded deaths in aged care settings how many were “probably cases”, rather than confirmed cases.
23. Of the recorded deaths in aged care settings, how many had COVID-19 as the only cause of death noted on their death certificates. What were their ages.
24. Please provide confirmed case and death statistics by age group for all cases and deaths in Australia excluding those that have occurred in aged care facilities.
25. Why is AIHW not providing access to the underlying data sets it uses?
26. In Australia and elsewhere reporting on Avoidable Deaths specifically excludes any deaths of someone aged above 74 years at the time of their death (regardless of cause). Why is the same principle not being applied in the case of COVID-19?
27. If this principle is applied how many Avoidable Deaths by AIHW have there been so far in Australia?
This was a senior Australian journalist. To his credit he ran with it from the start and put the work in to try to get the data from the government. Ultimately to no avail. He is an exception in a country where the rule has been to not rock the political boat.
The Titanic
Journalism is one of the checks and balances in the system. It has failed in Australia, as it has all over the world.
The Titanic had 16 watertight compartments and was designed to stay afloat even if 4 of them flooded but not 5 or more.
Journalism is meant to be one of a democratic free society’s watertight compartments. It is a check and balance against corrupt business and corrupt government. Although journalism is paid for by the media enterprise its social contract is a fiduciary one with the private citizen.
I work in financial services and an adviser, although paid by her employer has a legal fiduciary relationship and obligation to her client.
The media class generally, and journalism specifically has abandoned its fiduciary obligation to you, me, our families, friends, and neighbours.
The compartment has been flooded.
If you haven’t seen Spotlight the movie, I would recommend it. A great story of how a small group of persistent journalists discharged their fiduciary duty to the citizens of Boston and ultimately the world at large.
1976 Swine Flu
What is happening today has been tried before in 1976 with the Swine Flu fiasco.
The fiasco of the 1976 ‘swine flu affair’
In March 1976, President Ford announced a $137m (£67.5m in 1976) effort to produce a vaccine by the autumn. “Its goal was to immunise every man, woman and child in the US, and thus was the largest and most ambitious immunisation program ever undertaken in the United States,” wrote Imperato in a 2015 paper reflecting on the events.
With hindsight, it’s easy to see that the fears of the time were unfounded. The swine flu strain spotted at Fort Dix was not dangerous, and there would be no pandemic.
Here also, from the WHO is a 2009 review of “lessons” that all have been forgotten.
The lethality of a “new” virus was wildly exaggerated, and a rushed vaccine was rolled to a terrified population. But the “watertight compartments” of medical adverse reaction feedback and journalism held “tight” and free society didn’t sink.
I will not labour the Swine Flu point here, maybe another day. But you could do far worse that watch this 60 minutes episode from 1976. It’s only 16 minutes and will help you see what is happening today in a new light.
