Public Testimony Public Comment from Annie BukacekFrom:Ann Bukacek
To:Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL] Annie Bukacek"s testimony for the city council; they are not allowing citizen participation so I sent it
email
Date:Wednesday, August 19, 2020 6:54:01 PM
8/19/2020 Annie Bukacek MD email/written testimony to Mayor Johnson, members of theCity Council—citizen participation in the meeting not allowed
I gave you written testimony including physical copies after the cancelled Monday councilmeeting 2 weeks ago. It included data showing the miniscule health impact of COVID 19 in theFlathead. This time, my written testimony is followed by data on the exceedingly low rate ofCOVID 19 in children and the low incidence of spread from asymptomatic individualsaccording to the World Health organization. Your actions suggest you turn a blind eye todata and science even when it is easy to understand and check for yourself. Could it haveanything to do with money you have gotten from the CARES ACT? Are you required to goalong with the charade in order to get your money? Kalispell is about a fifth the populationof Atlanta Georgia, and their City Council got 88 million dollars. Hush money payment is theonly reasonable explanation I can fathom for your actions that have no underpinning inmedical science or reason.
You are all masked and sitting 6 feet apart due to your interpretation of the governor’sdirective…Last Monday city council meeting was cancelled with great fanfare because ofunmasked attendees. If you are willing to go along with this charade, based not on medicalscience but on hype and emotion…what will you do when the next unreasonable directivecomes forth? And what will be the endpoint for your wearing the masks? When will itstop? When the governor says you can?
The people of Montana elected Governor Bullock. Kalispell citizens elected you, and we didnot do this for you to do the governor’s bidding but to work for us. You have a responsibilityto your citizenry to set an example of strength of character and use of reason. People in yourcommunity are smart, vigilant, observant, and are not reliant on mainstream media, and thelocal health department for their information about COVID 19. I have respect for the office ofmayor, and for the purpose of this council. You know, Mayor Johnson, that I have strongly,publicly supported you when you did the right thing. I beseech you mayor and councilmembers, that you cease those actions that erode your credibility and our trust.
DATA & COMMENTARY:
Last city council meeting, I shared my written testimony regarding the very low % of the populationCOVID 19 (+) tests and deaths attributed to COVID 19 in Flathead County and the state of Montana---death attributed by CDC to COVID 19 were .0018% of the Flathead population and .0059% of theMontana population…COVID 19 (+) test percent of Flathead population .25% or one quarter of onepercent in the Flathead, .39% of the population in the state. I described to you that a “case” simplymeans a COVID (+) test (doesn’t mean a person is sick), how the “spikes” in COVID 19 cases
correlated with more than doubling the number of tests done in Montana (1400 a day June 23rd,
and 3200 July 30th). Now, they are testing approximately 1700 per day. It is predictable and pans outto be true, that as the number of tests done per day drops, the number of positive tests drops. If thetesting ramps up again, there will be more positive tests…it means nothing more than that. To call ita “spike” in “cases” is not just hyperbolic but is wholly inaccurate. I gave you the references for thesenumbers in my last written testimony.
The additional Flathead death attributed to COVID 19 puts the death % per population in theFlathead up to .0028%.
To further put in perspective how low these COVID numbers are here: Whatever numbers the CDClists, they are cumulative over a 6-month period. And over that 6 months, according to the CDC data,almost all have recovered. And the very low numbers in the Flathead are low despite the fact thatsince 4/24/2020, the majority have not kept social distancing.
Spokesperson for the World Health Organization within the last two months stated asymptomaticspread of COVID 19 is rare. I provide you with the link to that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiDMdW6s0HE&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3puN2_SBIyeiv1R2-Vc5BG5K8w10u0S42SswnUyemgPFi9_1z1SWeybL0
I get my data from the CDC website. It provides the numbers, and I divide the death and COVID (+)numbers by the Flathead County population (106,134) and the Montana population (1,068,000).Two deaths divided by 106,134 remains .0018%, 3 deaths is .0028%.
Since the population of the Flathead and Montana doesn’t change significantly, the more COVIDtests that are done the higher the COVID (+) test percent will be but it still less than half a percentpoint in the Flathead and barely over one half of one percent for Montana last I checked.
I have taken care of patients with viral syndromes for over 30 years. Some patients have minorsymptoms, some are miserable and miss days or weeks of work. Once in a great while, a patient ofmine with a viral syndrome is sick enough to be hospitalized. And close to 100% survive. This year inmy medical practice has been no different.
Physicians daily make decisions based on benefit vs risk of any recommendation they make. Theyalso weigh the risk of one decision vs the risk of another decision. Nothing in medicine (or in life) is100% safe, and nothing carries 100% chance of serious risk. Along this line, it is important to weighrisk vs benefit in the ongoing social isolation that is being promoted by the governor and local healthdepartments.
People attending the County Fair and children attending school are being forced to wearmasks….even though, based on CDC data of COVID 19 diagnoses in children…the numbers areexceedingly low.
Our interim health officer at the last city council meeting stated that in the Flathead, any childrenwho tested COVID (+), they were asymptomatic and checked only because another family membertested (+).
Death under 14 years old attributed COVID 19 by the CDC is 49 children in the USA. While over13,000 in this age range died of other causes. The data does not support healthy children wearingmasks, at the fair or anywhere else https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Death-Counts-by-Sex-Age-and-S/9bhg-hcku?fbclid=IwAR3K6VYfH7qPQcqmEN2qvGpAZPUhgZJE0PrZzjAWR6gOuKYmUhbpZpSngaQ
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people ages 10 to 34 in the United States,second only to “unintentional injury,” according to the CDC. AND governing bodies is forcing maskson them, cancelling/limiting sports and fairs, isolating them, causing great distress. https://www.christianpost.com/news/more-youth-are-dying-of-suicide-overdose-than-covid-19-during-pandemic-cdc-director.html
I give you a reference of an 11 year old boy killed himself due to isolation brought on byunwarranted lockdown
https://meaww.com/11-year-old-new-mexico-boy-killed-himself-landon-fuller-coronavirus-social-isolation-parents-reveal
Over 500 physicians nationwide signed this letter outlining cogently and concisely the heath risk ofthe lockdown and presented it to President Trump in May…increased suicide, domestic abuse, childmolestation and so on.https://disrn.com/news/mass-casualty-incident-600-doctors-sign-letter-to-trump-calling-for-end-to-coronavirus-lockdowns?fbclid=IwAR0CogR4vS1CegJUHRoTZ39NFMKTlAWh_H2KQ5rCVvEtcCNVoihsBCBEOWk
Data and cogent arguments strongly suggest the very real public health risk of ongoing isolationoutweighs the risk of potential infection. Do your actions and plans justify causing irreparable, long-lasting damage to the vast majority of our citizens? Can your children and grandchildren ever the livenormal lives you did? Please ask yourselves, is the policy