Publisher’s Note: The COVIDtastrophe one year in here in Vermont’s Green Mountains rolls on, setting up a pathogenic pressure cooker. Read on. NOTE: This Op/Ed was submitted by a PhD’ed Vermont microbiologist who prefers to remain anonymous. The Washington Post image illustrates the Op/Ed’s main point. Please share widely.

Please support Vermont Independent’s work through our Patreon page.

There are terrifying unintended consequences to the massive and vile human experiment we have been forcibly engaged in for the past 12 months. If you thought COIVD-19 was something to fear, just wait until the pathogenic pressure cooker we’ve been sitting on blows up. The lockdowns have had an effect, just not the intended effect. While SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread at an alarming pace, the CDC is seeing the suppression of other common respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses that normally circulate among us. At face value, one might think the suppression of common viruses is a good thing, but the opposite is true.

To understand why, one only needs the most rudimentary understanding of the human immune system. 

Clean every surface in sight with chemicals, bathe in Purell, wear a mask, stay six feet apart, stay home, and wash yourself raw…this is a recipe for immunological disaster – a perfect way to ruin your immune system. Our immune systems only grow and get stronger through exposure to germs and untidy spaces, through our interactions with one another, and in general, a massive sharing of our microbiomes. When we shut down schools and countries, hide out in our homes for months, and only go out wearing masks, we do irreparable harm to our individual immune systems.

Even more troubling? When our individual immune systems are weakened, our population immunity as a whole is also weakened. 

Numerous studies have shown lockdowns are not working to stop COVID-19, so why are they apparently stopping the spread of other viruses? The answer lies in the fact that SARS-CoV-2 is “novel” while these other viruses are endemic, or regularly found among us. Naïve immunity, meaning SARS-CoV-2 was relatively new to our immune systems on the whole, amplified the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to spread while the lockdowns suppressed endemic viruses which have greater population or herd immunity. To sum it up, in our arrogant effort to control nature by vainly trying to suppress a virus, we humans, we Vermonters, have painted ourselves into an ever-shrinking immunological corner. Extricating ourselves grows more difficult with each passing day we keep these disastrous COVID protocols – masking, lockdowns, etc. – in place.  

And no, this is not a rationale for keeping lockdowns in place indefinitely so we can create more and more vaccines. Whenever we in Vermont decide to open things back up, the pathogenic pressure cooker is waiting to blow. Our lowered immunity to other pathogens will lead to a frightfully vicious rebound of endemic viruses. This is not theoretical. After Australia ended restrictions, flu cases among children under 5 rose sharply in December, a time when flu cases are usually the lowest in the Southern hemisphere. The longer we maintain the status quo, the more the pressure will build and the worse the outcome will be as our immunity wains. Endemic viruses might be laying low for now, but they always find a way back. 

The solution? 

Here in Vermont, we must return to being fully human together – and we have not a moment to lose. The only way out is through. If ever there was an unequivocal and unpolitical reason to end these experimental non-pharmaceutical interventions now, this is it. It is imperative for our overall health that we get back to normal as soon as possible.

And if our Vermont Governor and his administration don’t want to follow the science laid out here, it is up to you as an individual to protect yourself. Stop over-sanitizing your spaces, spend time out in the community with those who are willing to socialize, and wear your mask as little as possible! 

Together, we can end this horrific assault on our individual and civilizational immune system and make Vermont fully human and healthy again!

With Respect To All Vermonters.