This 4th edition updates the essays that examine the major Covid-19 issues – variants, vaccines, masks, social distancing, immune systems, treatments ― to determine what works and what doesn’t in the current intensely political debate. The book is written by a family physician who pointedly differs on the threat posed by Covid-19 to the American people, then challenges current conventional wisdom on what should be done about the schools, the economy and public activity with reason, honesty and scientific facts.
Review
“…the fact is that the overall reaction to the virus has caused more harm than the virus itself.” In this short, powerful collection of essays, a physician and local leader in Orange County, California, offers his reality check to the standard mainstream government and media messaging about the COVID-19 pandemic. His position is that absurd, overreactive government and societal responses to the coronavirus, like school and business closures, have destroyed common sense, threatened the healthy exchange of germs, and sucker-punched economic norms. He posits that COVID-19 only presents flu-like symptoms in relatively healthy people under age 65. Those at risk should stay home, and the rest of the American population, including and especially kids, should get back to mask-free school, work, and everyday life. Dr. Barke’s provocative assertions are delivered with a clear readable language that a layperson can understand and follow. His observations are timely in a dynamic situation, and his succinct chapters are well-written and persuasive with their authoritative voice and confident stance. His dual backgrounds in medicine and school oversight lend weight to his opinions. Some readers may, at times, seek additional substantiation to the book’s more noteworthy claims. The statement, for example, that COVID-19 is cured by a cocktail of easily attainable and known remedies is delivered with anecdotal reference to a successful physician but without the typical trappings of cited studies and scientific references. Still, hunger by many readers for information on this topic is undoubtedly vast, and this book of intriguing medical and sociological commentary reads like a page-turner. It is a compelling and optimistic assessment that offers thought-provoking alternatives to what may otherwise be accepted by some as inarguable truths. –Jordana Landsman, US Review of Books
Talk about politically incorrect! Great collection of eye-opening, thought-provoking essays. –Larry Elder, author and radio host
The author of the book, Covid-19 ― A Physician’s Take On The Exaggerated Fear Of The Coronavirus is a US citizen and medical doctor, Jeffrey I Barke. He is certainly not scared of expressing controversial views that are protected by America’s long-standing tradition of freedom of speech. When I was doing graduate studies in science/environmental communication at the University of Maryland in 1999, I learnt that there will always be different ways of handling scientific topics. Dr Barke’s book confirms that. It also supports the idea that medical doctors such as Dr Barke have to calibrate the public interest of living in a real world of risk, danger, and opportunity with fundamental questions of a patient’s health and safety. How to manage the danger of Covid-19 involves all of these issues. Dr Barke believes that the US government and many scientists and medical doctors being interviewed on television are being overly cautious on how the coronavirus should be dealt with. Could these opining scientists and doctors be only interested in being at the centre of attention and enjoying their new status as “experts” more than they like being totally honest in interpreting the Covid-19 data before their eyes? While Dr Barke doesn’t directly challenge these scientists and doctors, he does present a completely different interpretation of the positions they take. This makes the book and Dr Barke controversial and has caused some to label him “a potential threat to humanity.” For example, Dr Barke does not hesitate to question the silence of other medical professionals over the need to have people build their natural immune systems as a defence against the coronavirus. And he spends a good number of pages of his book questioning the effectiveness of facemasks as a protection against the spread of Covid-19. Dr Barke is no fringe or extremist scientist as he agrees with the World Health Organisation, other medical doctors and scientists worldwide that Covid-19 is mostly carried in droplets of mucus or spittle and any face covering will help control that. He says: “A sneeze or cough containing Covid-19 may be partially blocked by a mask or bandana. [However,] the science is inconclusive on the extent to which a sneeze or cough can get through these protective coverings.” He then makes this highly telling point: “A 0.12 micron Covid-19 virus particle will pass through an ordinary surgical mask easily as well as any homemade [face-covering] cloth product. It is the equivalent of erecting a chain-link fence to keep out mosquitoes.” –Emmanuel Koro reviewing in Chronicle of Zimbabwe
About the Author
Dr. Jeffrey I. Barke is a board-certified primary care physician who has a concierge practice based in Corona del Mar, California. He completed his medical school training and family practice residency at the University of California Irvine, and earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California. During his more than 20 years as a physician, he has served as an associate clinical professor at the University of California Irvine’s Medical School, chairman of the Family Medicine Department at Hoag Memorial Hospital, on the board of directors of the Orange County Medical Association and medical director of Pathways to Independence. Dr. Barke was elected to three four-year terms as a member of the Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Education and is currently an elected member of the board of directors of the Roosmoor Community Services District. Dr. Barke is a co-founder and current board chair of Orange County Classical Academy, a free public charter school in Orange, California. Dr. Barke also serves as a reserve deputy and tactical physician for an Orange County law enforcement agency. Dr. Barke co-authored The Essential Diet Planning Kit (with Godfrey Harris) in 2005. He has appeared multiple times on the Dennis Prager Show, the Larry Elder Show and on Fox News Special Report with Bret Baier. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Mari Barke, who is currently the President of the Orange County Board of Education. They have two adult children, both of whom live out of state.
