The Differences Between Them

By Kevan James

June 16, 2021.

A short while ago, I wrote a response to an article in The Independent newspaper penned by Associate Editor Sean O'Grady. In this, he pushed the 'No jab, no job' argument, also spoken of by Charlie Mullins (founder of Pimlico Plumbers, most recently on GB News) as well as by numerous others. This includes not having access to anything if one is not vaccinated. It has been called 'fair discrimination'.

Yet throughout the entire duration of this affair, a year-and-a-half now, partial truth and distortions have been allowed to dominate debate. Most especially the differences between a cold, 'flu, and 'The Coronavirus' (as well as other illnesses and conditions).

I still see this confusion daily, especially on social media - people (for all the right reasons and genuinely meant) describing this thing as a cold, or as 'flu.

COVID-19 is neither of these.

When it all began, and since, I did what journalists are supposed to do; I checked facts. I looked things up and spoke to various people, on both sides of the divide, and wrote what I found. Yes, I did get some parts wrong to begin with - the direct result of the partial truths and distortions I mentioned. Yes again however, people with the appropriate letters after their names put me right and I corrected my original commentary.

In response - now - to the continual comments from so many (however well-meant and mis-informed) over the differences between what faces us these days, I have re-posted my comments in reply to Sean O'Grady below...with I must add, some re-written parts to reflect my desire to see the truth (finally) spoken of and written about coronaviruses and COVID-19.

You may have read most of it already. If so, read it again - take in those added points. And if you haven't read it, then I hope you find it informative and most of all, educational.

***

The simple terms 'Covid' and 'Coronavirus' are often used to describe the disease governments have become obsessed with. Granted, we should by now all know what is meant by 'Covid' and this same shortened version is now commonly used and by almost everybody. One can also find 'Rona' used. Why?

I believe it is of vital importance to use the right name for something that has swept the world. The full name of 'COVID-19' must be correctly used, always. By doing so, there is no confusion, no ambiguity. The same applies to use of the term 'coronavirus'

I have no idea how many commentators know the difference between them, or if they know how many coronaviruses there are. I do know that the word 'coronavirus' has been in blanket use, by again almost everybody, including significantly, the UK government and the NHS, along with various other official bodies. So with regard specifically to the government and those bodies, to borrow a phrase - how dare you.

How dare you misinform and thus mislead untold millions of people as to what a condition, a disease, actually is.

I know I have written this before on the pages on KJM Today but I will repeat it and carry on repeating it until the uninformed (including I hope many of my fellow journalists) actually listen and learn.

There are thousands of coronaviruses, of which just seven are known to be capable of infecting humans.

Of these, three can result in the common cold (note; can. Not will). There is no cure for the common cold, which can also be the result of a rhinovirus - the most common cause - along with some 200 other viruses. Not only is there no cure but no vaccines for the common cold either, despite decades of trying to find them. There is nothing that we have so far been able to do to suppress, control, reduce, flatten or eliminate the chances of catching a cold or the viruses that cause one. So we have to live with it. We do that via our own immune systems, which mostly do an impressive job of keeping us free of a cold.

However, a cold is a hugely infectious condition, spreads very rapidly, very easily and there are very few who don't get one at some point. Some people can be very prone to them, others much less so. But we are all, without exception, vulnerable to getting a cold because of the viruses that are the cause.

Although the symptoms are broadly very similar, 'flu does not come from a coronavirus but a family of viruses known as Orthomyxoviridae. Influenza - to give it the correct name - is an infectious illness of the upper and lower respiratory tract, characterised by sudden onset of fever, cough, myalgia, and other symptoms. Many victims however, do not exhibit the full set and 'flu can lead to more serious illnesses. Pneumonia is the most common complication and it is this that kills, rather than orthomyxoviruses themselves.

The same applies to coronaviruses - by themselves they are not fatal. What they lead to might be, and only one of them, specifically SARS-CoV-2, can result in a disease, COVID-19.

SARS-CoV-2 is indeed a coronavirus and yes, you could have it for a while and not know anything about it. In such cases, the body's immune system deals with it quite well, as it does a multitude of other potentially serious attacks. These include other coronaviruses, rhinoviruses and orthomyxoviruses, not to mention any number of additional assaults upon our bodies. We are, on a daily basis, assailed by things that can harm us. Occasionally, even frequently, we fall ill because of them. Some of those illnesses can beat us and we die.

But the cause of death is not 'The Coronavirus!' as screaming headlines and governments would have us believe. The cause of death will not even be COVID-19 (by itself). What kills is what this disease - COVID-19 - can lead to or otherwise trigger. Just as influenza 'can' lead to pneumonia, which is what kills.

No human has ever existed who is in absolute perfect good health. Everybody, without exception, has things that don't work quite as they should. Most of the time, even for the entire duration of our lives, these things do not have any effect and we carry on feeling just fine. But for some people - and for no apparent reason - something sets off whatever isn't right and they collapse. This is why seemingly healthy and fit people go down unexpectedly, as professional footballer Fabrice Muamba did in 2012 in front of a huge TV and stadium audience (and as other lesser known sports participants have, unseen except by those present at the time). This is also why an apparently healthy airline pilot, who passed all his fitness checks, suddenly died at the controls of his airliner back in 1972 at Staines, just after take off from Heathrow. Muamba survived. 117 passengers and crew on the airliner died when it crashed with an already dead pilot at the controls.

Death is not new and neither is sudden, unexpected, unexplained death - at least unexplained until afterwards, when post-mortems reveal a hitherto undetected and unknown health problem. And it is that which kills; it is that unknown condition which COVID-19 can lead to, as well as conditions that are already known - the underlying health conditions often spoken of. Death is not caused 'by' or 'with' COVID-19 itself, or for that matter, any coronavirus either.

Note also, as with Fabrice Muamba (and countless other unknown victims) something similar happened to professional footballer Christian Eriksen at the European Championships tournament. How is it that a healthy, fit, young man can suddenly collapse? It is because of unknown and undetected existing conditions.

If one feels fine, is in no pain or other difficulty, why would one need to seek medical help? Or for that matter a test either? Have there been post-mortems for all those deaths attributed to COVID-19 (or those incorrectly attributed to 'The Coronavirus!)? Apparently not.

So how do we know? Without post-mortems - we don't.

For all the longevity, durability and robustness of coronaviruses and the rest, including the sudden deaths, we've never shut down the world because of them. We've never found ourselves divided into those who can and those who are not allowed.

If vaccines are safe, have little adverse side effects, then fine. Have the jabs but the key word there is 'if'. No drug or medicine has ever been invented that doesn't have some kind of unpleasant reaction for somebody and as long as that situation exists, you cannot coerce people into having them.

Herd Immunity does not come from vaccines. Vaccines can help undoubtedly but herd immunity comes from our own ability to ward off infections and we aren't bad at it. If humanity wasn't, we would have died out eons ago. People in India are not dying from COVID-19; in all probability triggered by it however, they are dying from a host of other conditions, including those under which so many live; cheek-by-jowl, crammed together in little more than shacks with no toilets or sewage, no running fresh water, washing daily in dirty rivers. Much like substantial numbers in Brazil and elsewhere.

Before COVID-19, we routinely sneezed, snorted and hacked around each other every day and people have been coughing their viral loads all over everybody else since we were born (children have always done so, in and out of school). Politeness and consideration mostly meant covering our mouths and noses, then washing our hands when we did. But the 'fractured economy, stuttering month-to-month in and out of tiers and restrictions' referred to by Sean O'Grady in his article for The Independent are the result of government panic, lack of thought and their desire to 'be seen to be doing something' rather than of necessity.

Lockdowns are the result of an over-reliance on certain scientists, who have come to like the power they now have and do not want to let go of it. Political motivation may also colour their pronouncements and the same applies to members of governments. As to the (now former) UK Health Secretary and his inflammatory remarks throughout much of the past year, a more irresponsible set of comments you cannot wish to find. And it is this that is tearing society apart.

The numbers of people who do not want to wear a mask, who do not want to have the jab, are far greater than acknowledged. But many are complying because they feel they have been forced to - not because they are choosing to do so. That is what is divisive.

You would deny healthcare to somebody? You would deny them a job (and by extension therefore as they would then put themselves out of work, no benefits either - no food, light, heat, water)? You would deny children an education because of their parents? You would deny access to all those things taken for granted that enable people to live a life, as opposed merely existing? You would lock them in their homes permanently - or would you even let them have a home?

That is what vaccine and lockdown enthusiasts appear to want. And that's not my idea of freedom. Because there is no such thing as 'fair discrimination'.

© Kevan James, 2021.

Image - Kevan James

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