Eddie Peters (56) sells real estate in the Detroit/MI area. He says the Corona pandemic is trailing off, the Michigan governor goes too far in her lockdown measures. And people should take great care in strengthening their immune systems.
‘s up Eddie?
Same thing. I guess the virus is starting to retreat. I have a buddy down at Henry Ford hospital who says it’s trailing off; they send a lot of people home.
That’s not what we read. We read that Detroit is one of the worst hot spots in the country.
I think we are number 3 in the country. More than half of the cases are in New York, and there, even Cuomo says that the numbers are down. About 80 percent of all cases in Michigan are in the three counties around Detroit where about three fourths of the state’s population live. The rest of the state is not so badly affected. The governor has gone too far with her lockdown measures.
In what sense?
You are not allowed to go to your cottage up North for example. That’s ridiculous. What harm does that do? You can buy food and you can buy marihuana and any kind of booze, but you cannot buy a can of paint for your house. You cannot buy soil even if you order online and have it delivered. Yesterday, thousands went protesting in Lansing against the governor. I know people who went.
Marihuana you can buy?
Yeah. My buddy owns a Marihuana dispensary. You drive up and get it. It’s really easy to get the medical card for that. And recreational use is now legal.
Aren’t the protests politically motivated? The governor is a Democrat and what I see from the protests looks a lot like the other side.
She says it’s political. She gets a lot of grief because people are losing their livelihoods. You can buy Doritos but two aisles over in the same store you cannot buy seeds to plant healthy food because she had the section cordoned off. Trump wants to open up of the economy, and I think it’s necessary. If this is going on, more people will be depressed, they cannot pay their rent, drug use will be up – you end up having a better chance with the virus than all of that.
Can you work?
I work from home. But today I drove to a house to pick up something. Yesterday I drove to another one to take some pictures. There was nobody around.
Are you not worried?
Look, the virus hits people with compromised immune systems, those who live in low-income areas, in close quarters, those who are diabetic and overweight. A lot is about nutrition, there is a whole new field in medicine now – Dr. Hyman from the Cleveland Clinic or Dr. Brownstein here in Detroit. You can youtube them or google them. I talk to my holistic doctor. He says viruses are all about immunity. People with weak immune systems are prone to get sick. He told me to take high doses of Vitamin C. I take every day 10000 Independent Units of it. I think this Hydroxychloroquine really works.
That’s the treatment President Trump promotes and lots of experts pooh-pooh.
He just wants to tell people it’s working. The other day a Michigan state representative, a Democrat, said that hydroxychloroquine saved her life. There was another guy on the radio who said the same thing.
Do you know anybody who has it?
I’ m pretty sure I have it. I had a stuffy nose and I still have no sense of taste or smell for two weeks now. I’ m taking Zinc, it’s getting better.
How’s the family?
We had a Zoom group call the other day. It was like an episode of The View. Everybody was screaming at each other at the same time. But it came through that all are fine.
What should happen now?
People want to work. I think everything will get back to normal in the next couple of weeks. There is more testing coming. This week the whole Detroit police and fire departments were tested. If you are negative, you work. There is a 5-minute-test now. Pretty soon, you go to your office, get tested and if you’re ok, you work. And the antibody testing will show that maybe 50 million of Americans had the virus already. Look at California. The numbers there are very low. They had a flu in December, and maybe they went through the Corona virus then already.
What about the risks in opening the economy?
The risk is for those with weak immune systems. You can do something to strengthen your system. I am not even sure that social distancing is to stay for people like me. Are you telling me that we cannot go to a sports event any more or to a concert or to see art? Can I not go see Wynton Marsalis again?
I understand. Baseball would have started by now. But if I recall correctly, when we spoke last time you said that a termination of the hockey season would be a blessing for the Wings because they are doing so badly
I was joking. Sports, music and arts events are a big part of our lives. At one point you got to say life is a risk.
How about the old and the vulnerable?
Do you know the German doctor Knut Wittkowski? He is all over on YouTube. He says to quarantine the elderly and the vulnerable and to send the younger ones back to school and to work. This way you might have more people immune faster than locking everybody up.
Where do you get all your information?
I read. I check the internet. I listen to the radio. I talk to people.
What should one do?
We got to stop the panic. Last year 850 000 people in America were hospitalized with the flu and nobody freaked out. 51000 died from the flu in 2017, and I don’t think we will see this number from Covid-19. And hey – take your Vitamin D.
Do you think the Corona crisis will hurt President Trump?
No, not one bit. Look at the public-private thing he did with the virus. General Motors and Ford are now making ventilators. He will have more masks and more gowns at hand. And the Trump voters like him because he is an outsider. He’s blue collar. Romney who had a few hundred million was viewed as a rich elite guy and Trump who is richer is not. Trump is a reaction to both parties. People like him because he speaks bluntly, he wanted to bring manufacturing back. He is the first in thirty years who exposed China who is ripping us off, and he said from the beginning that Nafta was bad. Nafta was a bad deal.
I agree, completely, about Nafta. But I know a lot of people who dislike Trump
I understand people who don’t understand his style. But we don’t elect Mother Teresa. I know many who would say “I can’t believe he says that” but secretly agree with him. I for myself don’t talk politics. I talk policy. And policywise he is doing a good job. If a politician gets 70 percent of what he promises he does alright. Yes, he has a deficit problem. But they all did.