Opinion : Letter to the Editor: COVID-19 politics

Dear Editor,

It is dumbfounding and depressing how political the atmosphere on the Covid-19 virus has become. What is true and what is misinformation? How can one make any sense out of what is coming from the White House, President Biden, and the medical bureaucracy? And to really muddy the mix we have the mainstream media weighing in. Hmm! What do they know?

In this venue, there have been numerous criticisms of my remarks. I must say - I will never write anything I believe to be untrue or without proper documentation. Does that make me right one hundred percent - no. But, what I write I believe to be true at the time. If anyone has data that adds to the discussion or determines that my observations are suspect I welcome their input. But, what seems to have happened is that criticisms have been laid without documentation, but with prejudice. There is a narrative that must be adhered to by political foes. I attempt to stay away from that format, as I do not think it advances knowledge on "any" particular subject. Thus:

I believe my age was 55 years, as I was an Airline Captain I was required to have a medical exam every six months to maintain my FAA Class One Medical. That physical required an EKG - if you don't know what that is, look it up. On this occasion, it was determined I had a "right branch bundle block". The AME (Aviation Medical Examiner) grounded me on the spot. I asked him to wait before forwarding the information to the FAA until I had an exam by a cardiologist - nothing doing. Had the exam by the following Friday which required a radiation infusion exam - not sure what it was called, but the outcome was - "get back to the cockpit". Well because the FAA is involved it took some doing, but the Chief Pilot Central Region and the Physician on retainer by the airline got me back on the line in two weeks. So I had this condition - it doesn't go away - I still have it. It turns out it is not a big deal or I would have been medically retired.

Move forward to the present day. We have a pandemic, Covid-19; extremely contagious and unfortunately deadly to many. Note: I have been retired from the airline for now - 20 years - yeah I know time flies, but as the Knights of Columbus know "Tempus Fugit Memento Mori" (Time Flies Remember Death). So then to continue this thought; when the vaccine was available Sharon and I took the vaccine under emergency authorization - Moderna, then we took the booster. As I have a chronic pulmonary disease I have six months appointments with my Pulmonary Physician - numerous tests proved I was stable thanks to the therapeutics I take, but it was discovered that my heart skipped a beat. Whoa - EKG ordered - the skipped beat was there, but not as powerful. Hmm. Getting back to my normal Medico in Vinton - he looked at the EKG tape - hmm no atrial fibrillation. No need to see a cardiologist - just to get acquainted. So I asked - you have not detected this before, my Pulmonary Doctor has not seen this before: hmm could it be the vaccine??? His answer was - no data to suggest that occurrence.

So no data to suggest the vaccine was the cause, so the deal is to get the vaccine if you have no underlying condition that would further jeopardize your health, but we know from others trials there are underlying conditions that should give pause. Then those affected must rely on therapeutics for their recovery.

This brings us back to my previous post; why don't we know what they are???? I didn't get any answer, but I got a butt load of criticism from the responses here. Yee Gods. Prejudice clouds judgment.

We need data to support our effort to treat those who come down with this virus. Many clinical physicians have had success with off-label drugs and we now have Pharma that has developed drug therapies - fast track them! Get them out to the Doctors who treat - get the test kits out as well. I suggest all who may be vulnerable obtain an oximeter from your pharmacy. If the O2 exchange rate goes below 90 call your doctor -NOW.

Regards,

John Stieglmeyer