I'm Doubling Down on COVID-19 Because of Lives

Released April 16, 2020, by Gov. Kevin Stitt (Oklahoma): Missed projections and actual hospitalizations

Last week I posted on Facebook that I believed it was time for our city (Enid, Oklahoma) to begin the transitional process of opening up economically. I said this:

"I respect our city leaders. Their emphasis on increased personal hygiene, being cautious around others, and the encouragement to "think of others" have been marvelous ("Thank You" city leaders!). That said, I believe it's now time to think of those losing their jobs, being furloughed, and missing paychecks to pay rent, to put food on the table, and to take care of bills. I'm requesting our Mayor and Enid's City Council announce Enid is OPEN THE CITY FOR BUSINESS at midnight Thursday, April 30, 2020, so that the Emergency Order is not extended into May."

The response I received by some to what I wrote made me out to be the true Tiger King who actually succeeded in murdering people. I was being blamed for impending deaths.

One person wrote:

"This is absolutely irresponsible. I would hope that a man of God would care more about people than sacrificing their lives for the sake of business. You do also realize that there are such things as asymptomatic carriers who can transmit the virus without showing symptoms? Your attempt at shaming those individuals who are genuinely concerned about this is repugnant.

I never take anything personally, so I took no offense toward those who accused me of being more interested in money than peoples' lives.

However, America's response to COVID-19 is not a "lives vs. economy" issue. It's a "lives vs. lives" issue.

It is entirely possible for more lives to be ruined by our response to COVID-19 than by the disease itself." Wade Burleson

At first, I listened to our government leaders because they were telling us that the "surge of patients" in need of hospitalization would overwhelm our medical system. We would not have enough beds to care for the sick, we were told.

My wife, Dr. Rachelle Burleson, understands public health. We want to be part of a solution to help our nation, not part of the problem. Out of love for our country and our leaders, I totally supported the recommendations of the CDC to shelter in place and isolate.

I obeyed government mandates to isolate and shelter in place, to cancel all corporate worship services for six weeks, and follow the mandates of a government Emergency Order.

Then reality hit.

The number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 was skewed.

Hospitals built to deal with the surge remained "empty," having never seen even one patient. 

The coronavirus death rate much was much lower than previously reported.

Then, certified government epidemiologists in Sweden began saying "we've got it wrong about the lockdown."

Dr. Shiva Avyadurai, Ph.D., M.D., MIT, began telling Americans a different narrative about COVID-19.

Then I began hearing from small business owners from Enid, Oklahoma, members of the church I serve. They were questioning why "big business" and national chains were allowed to remain open, but their small businesses were shuttered by the government.

Then I began hearing from people (other than my wife, Dr. Rachelle Burleson), how hospitals in Oklahoma, including Deaconess in Oklahoma City, and Integris throughout Oklahoma, were laying off people and facing bankruptcy because hospital rooms were empty.

I began to change my mind. There seems to be an agenda that goes beyond public health.

I think some people wish to fundamentally change America.

COVID-19 becomes the means through which people begin to rely on the government than their active work to sustain their families.

I am NOT a conspiracy theorist (with apologies Ed Stetzer).

But when I saw the volatile, hostile response to my recommendation that we begin to "open up Enid, Oklahoma" to small businesses, I realized that the driving force of many is political hubris,  not public health.

Way back in the 1960s', the moment a child got "chickenpox," all the kids ran to the house of their friend so they could "get chickenpox." God has built into your body the greatest biological immunization system in the history of the world. Natural immunity is what protects the population, not Big Pharma vaccinations. If you wish to guarantee a dangerous and deadly spread of COVID-19, then shelter healthy people continuously..

In the history of the world, only the sick and the susceptible have been isolated. 

For the first time ever, the healthy are being isolated.

If it is argued that you must isolate the healthy to prevent people from "catching" the virus, I would argue, along with the leading epidemiologist of Sweden, that we should be doing the very opposite.

Let the healthy go about their lives, taking all recommended personal hygiene precautions, and tell the elderly and those with pre-existing health problems (obesity, lung disease, heart disease, etc...) to shelter and isolate.

Then, when the healthy get COVID-19, many of whom will have mild to no symptoms, we can then donate and give our naturally immunized blood to help heal those who are very sick.

“The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of a doubt, what is laid before him.” (Leo Tolstoy, 1897).

I don't consider myself a Republican or a Democrat.

COVID-19 has turned me into a libertarian.

Libertarian - def. "an advocate or supporter of a philosophy that advocates only minimal state intervention in the free market and the private lives of citizens."

Our church will not open for our normal schedule on Sundays until June 7, regardless of what the government says. We'll take time in May to transition and do things differently and cautiously (as small businesses should as well).  But the fact we've shut down our economy for COVID-19 is an unwise response to a serious disease. You don't burn down the house to kill a mouse. 

If you wish to know how I've changed over the last six weeks about COVID-19, watch the video below.

This is a "lives vs. lives" issue, and our country is going to destroy MORE lives than COVID-19 the longer we stay shut down.