https://www.AskDrButtar.com/livestream

Rashid A. Buttar, DO, FAAPM, FACAM, FAAIM: Dr. Rashid A. Buttar received his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis with a double major in Biology and Theology at age 21, and then attended medical school at the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in Des Moines, Iowa, graduating with his medical degree at age 25. He trained in General Surgery and Emergency Medicine and served as Brigade Surgeon for 2nd Infantry Division, Republic of South Korea, and later as Chief of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Moncrief Army Community Hospital at Ft. Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina while serving in the US Army.

Dr. Buttar became an Eagle Scout at the age of 14, becoming the youngest person in the US to get his Eagle that year, and made the list for promotion to Major in the US Army at the age of 28, becoming the youngest person to make the list for Major that year in the US Army just prior to finishing his service in the Armed Forces. During his military career, Dr. Buttar had the privilege of serving with and being attached to the 2nd Infantry Division, the 101st Air Assault Division, and the 5th Special Forces Group. Dr. Buttar is board certified and a Diplomate in Clinical Metal Toxicology and Preventive Medicine is board eligible in Emergency Medicine and has achieved fellowship status in three separate medical organizations (Fellow of the American College for Advancement in Medicine, Fellow of the American Academy of Preventive Medicine, and Fellow of the American Association of Integrative Medicine).

Johns Hopkins University had predicted that Taiwan would have the second most COVID-19 cases in the world, due to its close proximity to Mainland China. But astonishingly, in spite of being only 80 miles from the coast of China with over 400,000 of its 24 million citizens working in China, as of mid-April, the country only had 400 cases of COVID-19, and only 6 deaths. And the vast majority of their 400 cases came into the country from abroad.

All of this has happened without shutting down the country with lock downs, and with almost all of its businesses continuing to operate. Is Taiwan doing something else the rest of the world is largely missing?

This question will no doubt be asked for months or even years into the future, but it is a question well worth asking, given the devastating effects to the economy that have resulted from more restrictive measures such as the United States took.

The first thing to note is that while President Trump is now looking seriously at pulling out of the World Health Organization, Taiwan was never part of it. They were not allowed to join due to the WHO’s pro-China stance.

According to the Taipei Times, Taiwan’s CDC tried to warn China and WHO on December 31, 2019 about possible human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus, while China was still denying that such transmission was possible.

That same day, Taiwan started policies to monitor travel from China to reduce the chance of having the coronvirus come into their country. They were one of the first countries to restrict travel from China at their borders.

Taiwan had bad experiences from the 2003 SARS (another coronavirus) outbreak in China, and as a result their hospitals were well supplied with equipment to handle any outbreaks. This SARS situation had reportedly taught them to have a healthy distrust in China and the World Health Organization to accurately report facts, and to have their own plan in place for future outbreaks.

But unlike the U.S. and many other countries, Taiwan did not quarantine the entire nation. They focused on quarantining travelers coming in from abroad in their own homes, while the rest of the nation went about their business, with some restrictions in place such as wearing face masks, and practicing social distancing.

It is hard to argue with their reported results so far, with so few actual cases and very few deaths. They kept the country open, and did not destroy their economy.

John Ransom, reporting for TownHall Finance writes:

Protests in the streets, oil trading at negative numbers, rapidly spiraling unemployment, locked-down international travel and trade: I think we can all agree that by any barometer, including these, the world has failed the Wuhan flu test.

Why the world’s answer to the China flu has been so disastrously wrong, ill-thought out and ignorant to reality can be left to future post-mortems. But after spending literally trillions on public health over the decades to prevent just such an occurrence, it’s clear by now that the world’s investment in public health professionals was wasted.

We can debate whether the cost was worth it, but there is no denying that the cost has been beyond anyone’s imagining.

Some may argue that in such a crisis, experts faced a no-win situation where they had to either trade lives for the economy or the economy for lives.

To that I give a one-word answer: Taiwan.

Taiwan is the other “China”. It’s a small island off the southern coast of China, called the Republic of China (ROC). It was created as a bastion of “free” China as the Communist Party took over mainland China (PRC).

The island may be small, but the country is a regional and worldwide powerhouse. It’s the 21st largest economy in the world (19th if counting by PPP), despite having a population of just 24 million. It ranks 11th in GDP per capita, comparable to Denmark and Sweden.

It’s also an important partner with Communist China as one of the leading investors, trading partners and bankers for the PRC. Consequently, Taiwan hosts quite a bit of contact with the PRC.

For comparison sake, the United Sates saw about 3 million visitors from China in 2018, while Taiwan hosted 2.6 million visitors from China in 2018.

That’s why the results from Taiwan in fighting China’s Wuhan flu—as they call it in Taiwan—is so extraordinary.

Worldwide there have been 321 cases of COVID-19, or Wuhan flu, per million people. In Taiwan there have been just 0.3 cases per million people for a total of 422 cases, with only six total deaths.

Equally important is that while the Taiwanese economy has been damaged by the global shutdown, their domestic economy and society has remained open. (Source and Full Article Here.)

We report these results as a comparison to what other actions have been taken in other countries, that have had far more disastrous results. We are not necessarily endorsing everything that Taiwan has done, just reporting the facts about their response and their results so far.

Many questions are still unanswered. Did the actions the Taiwan Government take cause a much lower rate of reported infections of COVID-19? Or are there other factors involved that kept their infection rates lower? Since the SARS outbreak more than 15 years ago was so severe there, was there some natural immunity against coronaviruses involved? Did their location closer to the equator with more sunlight and warmer temperatures this time of year play a factor?

About the only thing we do know for sure, is that the vaccine gods and their global leaders like Bill Gates and Dr. Fauci and the WHO cannot take credit for Taiwan’s success, because they never were able to successfully develop a vaccine for SARS, and they have successfully kept Taiwan out of the WHO.

Writer Marc A. Thiessen offers his perspective:

This pandemic has provided us with a clinical trial in the healing power of freedom. We can now compare two control groups in the form of two Chinese societies — one free and democratic, the other under the grip of a brutal totalitarian dictatorship.

Totalitarian China has not only been ravaged by the virus but has also spread the contagion to our shores. Free China has defeated it. The lesson is clear: COVID-19 grew in the cesspool of Chinese Communist tyranny.

The antidote to the coronavirus is freedom. (Source.)

Watch the PBS News Hour report:

Taiwan’s success in fighting COVID-19 is overshadowed by global politics

Copyright 2020 – Health Impact News. Permission granted to republish in full, with links back to Health Impact News as the source, and author credit kept in tact.

Source: TAIWAN: No Lockdowns, No Closed Businesses, Non-WHO Member, and Relati

We have featured the articles published by Michigan physician Dr. David Brownstein for many years here at Health Impact News. But we were just notified that his blog has been shut down, apparently to suppress the information he was publishing that went against Big Pharma and their narrative regarding COVID-19.

As we have previously reported, Dr. Brownstein has had tremendous success treating COVID-19 patients successfully with holistic non-pharmaceutical methods.

According to a notice put up on his website, the FTC ordered him to stop blogging:

Dear CHM Patients-
I want to let you know that we have been ordered by the FTC to stop making any statements about our treatment protocols of Vitamins A, C and D as well as nutritional IV’s, iodine, ozone and nebulization to support the immune system with respect to Coronavirus Diseases 2019 (COVID-19).

According to this letter:

“It is unlawful under the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C Sec. 41 et seq. to advertise that a product or service can prevent, treat, or cure human disease unless you possess competent and reliable scientific evidence, including, when appropriate, well-controlled human clinical studies, substantiating that the claims are true at the time they are made. For COVID-19, no such study is currently known to exist for the products or services identified above. Thus, any Coronavirus-related prevention or treatment claims regarding such products or services are not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence. You must immediately cease making all such claims.”

What this means is that I will not be able to blog, post, tweet, email, etc. for awhile.

I want you to know that CHM is NOT closing. I am still here and so are my colleagues. It is my honor to be your doctor.

To All Our Health! ~DrB

The articles we have published on our website authored by Dr. Brownstein remain, and are protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

Unfortunately, as a licensed physician, Dr. Brownstein has stricter regulations on what he can publish since he charges for his services.

This does NOT mean he has done anything wrong or illegal, it just probably means he has neither the time nor resources to fight this in court right now, where he would probably win on Constitutional grounds.

This was one of Dr. Brownstein’s last blog entries regarding the wearing of masks, which criticized Governor Whitmer (which is NOT illegal!).

We Must Wear Face Masks? Show Me the Science Behind That!

by Dr. Brownstein

Folks, I have been writing to you about COVID for over a month. It is been a painful time period for all of us.

What is really sad is that too many political dictates are being fostered on us without any good scientific evidence to back them up. One of those requirements that has me irritated is the use of face coverings that I see so prevalent out there.

When I go to Costco, 95% of the people in the store are wearing face masks.

Why is that?

The Governor of Michigan recently released an edict requiring that citizens wear a face covering when in any enclosed public space.

It specifically states, “Any individual able to medically tolerate a face covering must wear a covering over his or her nose and mouth—such as a homemade mask, scarf, bandana, or handkerchief—when in any enclosed public space.”

Later in the edict, it states, “Supplies of N95 masks and surgical masks should generally be reserved, for now, for health care professionals, first responders and other critical workers who interact with the public.”

It should be well known that cloth masks, bandanas, or handkerchiefs will do very little to stop the spread of coronavirus. In fact, they may actually increase your risk of becoming ill from corona and other influenza-like illnesses.

A 2015 study found cloth masks, when compared to surgical masks, increase the rate of influenza-like illnesses 13x! (1) Cloth masks are probably best avoided and should not be reused without properly sanitizing them.

Regular surgical masks are not much better in this situation. The COVID-19 virus is 0.125 µm in size. Surgical masks have been shown to not adequately filter against aerosols measuring from 0.9-3.1 µm. (2)

Other researchers have shown that particles from 0.04-0.2 µm can penetrate surgical masks. (3)

A 2020 study in Seoul, South Korea looked at the effectiveness of surgical and cotton masks in blocking COVID-19 in a controlled comparison of four patients. (4)

The COVID-infected patients were put in negative pressure isolated rooms. The scientists compared disposable surgical masks (3 layers) with reusable cotton masks.

Patients were instructed to cough 5 times while wearing no mask, surgical mask, or cotton mask. Interestingly, all swabs from the outer masks—including surgical masks—were positive for COVID-19.

Inner masks were also found to be contaminated. That means the mask did not effectively filter out the COVID virus since it is too small. The authors state, “Neither surgical nor cotton masks effectively filtered {COVID-19} during coughs by infected patients.”

The study also reported greater contamination on the outer than the inner mask (both surgical and cotton) surfaces.

The authors claim that the mask is either allowing the virus to cross from the inner to the outer surface because the virus is too small or the aerodynamic feature of a mask could explain this finding. A turbulent jet due to air leakage around the mask edge could contaminate the outer surface.

We have made far too many political decisions in the COVID crisis based on fear and not on reliable data. Here is a perfect example of another one: everyone must wear a mask when inside any public place.

Should you wear a mask? If you are coughing or sick, my answer is yes. A surgical mask, and to a lesser extent a cotton mask, will block large droplets from being spread.

However, should we dictate to healthy people that they are required to wear a mask—cotton or surgical—when in any public enclosed space? Someone show me the science supporting the Executive Order by the Governor of Michigan. And Governor Whitmer wonders why so many of us are annoyed.

To All Our Health,
~DrB

Addendum: A further annoyance is my lack of success in getting masks—both N95 and surgical masks– for my staff to use when we are treating COVID patients. Perhaps the Governor should release an executive order helping us get the PPE equipment we need. We have had masks, gowns and face shields on order for over two months. That is beyond annoying.

(1) BMJ Open. 2015:5:e006577.
(2) Am. J Infect. Contol. 2008:36:276-282
(3) Ann.Occup. Hyg. 2008:52:177-85
(4) Annals of Int. Med. Letter. IBID. April 6, 2020.

Other articles by Dr. Brownstein.

See Also:

Michigan Doctor Raided by FBI and Arrested for Treating COVID19 Patients with Vitamin C

Source: FTC Shuts Down Dr. Brownstein’s Blog for Explaining How He was Cu