Response to Bruce Lipton’s Dismissal of COVID-19
By: Brandon Sickbert
Tags: Bruce Lipton, Covid 19, Critical Thinking, Coronavirus, Social Media

On any given day, social media swarms with pithy, misleading memes and simplistic rants about whatever topics are trending. The current COVID-19 pandemic is matched by a comparable social contagion of misunderstanding and flawed reasoning.

In this maddening milieu of misinformation, I was tagged in the comment section of a post written by Bruce Lipton, a new age sort of biologist perhaps best known for writing “The Biology of Belief” in 2005. His original post here.

While Lipton has a genuine talent for using science to push against or expand conventional health paradigms, his extraordinary claims aren’t always supported by extraordinary evidence. In this cause, his claims are flagrantly misleading, and given the risks involved with spreading disease, quite reckless. Compared to the epidemiological acumen demonstrated in his article, any given citizen could have a much more accurate understanding the COVID-19 pandemic by simply combining basic critical thinking skills with the ability to identify and access information from a spectrum of actual experts, such as epidemiologists and infectious disease researchers affiliated with the WHO, CDC, or medical institutions generally.

Lipton’s post isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever read, but serves as a case in point. My goal isn’t to persuade others to believe my opinion, but rather to take an honest look at if statements are true and if the logic is sound, and then takeaway whatever conclusion follows.

So, equipped with basic critical thinking and reference information from a variety of readily accessible, credible sources, I’ve evaluated some of the more egregious claims here:

“If you have ever had a cold or flu in your life, odds are that it was the result of a coronavirus infection. Yes, coronaviruses cause colds.” So what? Is the implication that if you aren’t worried about cold or flu, then you shouldn’t be worried about COVID-19? This demonstrates either his ignorance, or his exploitation of his readers’ ignorance about how viruses evolve and what their nomenclature means. Coronavirus is an entire family of viruses. MERS is also in the Coronavirus family, and its mortality rate is 65%. By his logic, should we then diminish our concern during an outbreak of MERS? Putting “deadly” in quotes is ridiculous. COVID-19 changes people from being alive to being dead. Therefore it is deadly. No quotes needed. He scoffs at a 1% — 2% mortality rate? And then makes the shamefully misleading statistical manipulation to state “That number is almost 1% more deaths than are attributed to any conventional flu the world experiences.” Normal flu mortality rate is 0.1% COVID-19 mortality rate is 1%-2%. So COVID-19 mortality rate is 10–20 times as much as normal flu, which could be stated to be 1000%-2000% of what flu is. But he chooses to describe it as “almost 1% more”? Come on! That obviously creates a different impression than what the real discrepancy is. He then interchangeably uses the word “cold” to describe “COVID-19” to downplay its severity, in a sort of neuro-linguistic programming. This is like interchangeably using the word “house-cat” and “lion”. Both felines, not the same threat level. “The health of almost all the victims of this coronavirus was already compromised before they were infected.” If by “compromised” you mean they are part of the entire upper ⅓ of the human population by age, then ok, I guess not being a young person can “compromise” your health. And then what… we don’t care that this huge population of people, most of whom are otherwise living fine lives, are now at a significant risk of death? Beyond the variable of age, additional compromised people are otherwise living comfortable lives being a little overweight, having a treatable asthma or emphysema, successfully dealing with diabetes, etc. Do we just not care about them? What a disgusting implication. He then cites a sample size of 6 people to demonstrate his point that only compromised elderly people die from COVID-19. Obviously too small a sample size to generalize at this point — and again, even if it is only elderly and already unhealthy people, this is still a concern. Both for those people, and also for the less “compromised” people who can be disease vectors to infect people who are at greater risk. He seriously says “healthy people have nothing to fear”, and dismisses that only people “at death’s door” may experience “the ‘Grim Reaper’”. What a tasteless thing to say. In addition to being disease vectors that could cause suffering and death for people they care about, what healthy people have to fear is a potentially severe flu-like disease, that could require hospitalization (even if not as frequently death), in time where hospitals could become overwhelmed (as they have in China and Italy), where doctors with limited resources are faced with the decision of which people they will give treatment to and which people they have to let die or otherwise suffer more. What to have concern for is also the many other side-effects that result from taking prudent measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19. Schools being closed means parents who can’t go to work. All large gatherings being cancelled. Many businesses having to close. People losing jobs. Supply line disruption, where many things won’t be available for a period of time. Not just luxuries, but also medical necessities like IV drips, medications, staple foods, etc. There is much more to this than just being worried about getting a “cold”. “The fear of the coronavirus is more deadly than the virus itself!” While stress certainly impairs immune function, a healthy concern to minimize the spread of a contagious and deadly virus is most definitely NOT more deadly than the virus itself. We can acknowledge that intense prolonged stress is bad and can impair immune function, without minimizing the importance having a healthy concern amid officially declared pandemic. “The media (perhaps in conjunction with the pharmaceutical industry) is compromising people’s health using the fear card!” Seriously, not everything is a conspiracy. Is the WHO using the fear card? The CDC? Are leaders of countries and states and cities at every level shutting things down and losing billions of dollars just because they’ve bought into CNN sounding alarmist because someone wants some insider trading with a pharmaceutical company? This is such sloppy, paranoid thinking that it undermines whether the author has actually looked at what’s happening in the world beyond his biased view of preformed conclusions. “If you are someone with a compromised immune system, it is supportive to surround yourself with loving family and friends” Up to the point that your family and friends have been exposed and you are in an outbreak zone. At that point, practice social distancing so your family and friends don’t kill you with their support.

This isn’t a debate about whether the moon landing was faked, or if the Earth is flat, or if certain planetary positions make your computer more likely to screw up. This is something where blase attitudes directly translate into higher rates of suffering, death, and a multi-faceted cascade of disruptions on everyday life for a prolonged period of time. It’s no time to indulge pithy, simplistic memes, base conspiracy paranoia, and pseudoscientific speculation.

This is a time to exercise basic critical thinking, to inform yourself with an array of what actual experts on the subject say. Not to live in a perpetual state of overwhelming stress, but to employ reasonable concern. To maybe spend less time in large groups. To make a little less physical contact with people. To avoid places with known outbreaks. To seclude yourself if you’re sick. To be very careful not to cough on people. Even if you aren’t sure exactly how contagious or deadly or disruptive COVID-19 will end up being, it would be prudent to at least take these basic measures, rather than spreading disease and distorted information. And yes, you can also support the health of your community by supporting your own health, by minimizing stress and maintaining a positive attitude.

RESOURCES: