Recently a friend sent me video of a talk at Capitol Clarity of Idaho posted on YouTube on March 26, 2021. I watched the video and and took some notes and did a little follow-up research. I am not a medical practitioner, but I do appreciate good research and feel that many of Dr. Ryan Cole’s statements lacked the scientific rigor one would expect in a talk like this.

Doctor Cole promoted vitamin D as a cure and preventative. According to research vitamin D is important overall health, but it does not prevent or cure Covid-19. Plenty of people in sunny states and countries have been stricken with the disease. Below are some articles and studies about vitamin D and COVID-19.

https://www.advisory.com/en/daily-briefing/2021/01/14/vitamin-d

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2776736

Like hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin has been put forward as a possible cure or preventative, but both have been tested with poor results. It’s also dangerous for a doctor to recommend a medical product without a dosage because people can hurt themselves. Here are articles and studies about ivermectin.

https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/antiviral-therapy/ivermectin/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7778723/

https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/why-you-should-not-use-ivermectin-treat-or-prevent-covid-19

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2777389

Additionally, he used India as an example of where this medicine was working. However, the infection rates are through the roof with over 200k new infections per day. They have tried every cure and prevention available.

India’s coronavirus cases pass 5 million

As for the amount of healthcare workers refusing vaccines, over half have been already vaccinated and physicians have a very high acceptance rate. Here are articles about vaccine acceptance among medical professionals.

https://www.medicaleconomics.com/view/physicians-highly-accepting-of-covid-19-vaccine

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/19/health-workers-covid-vaccine/

https://www.contagionlive.com/view/survey-finds-15-of-us-healthcare-workers-refuse-to-take-covid-19-vaccine

There are several studies about the effectiveness of mask wearing. Outdoor transmission is less, but not non-existent. Again, there are many studies supporting mask usage.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2776536

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-comments-about-outdoor-transmission-of-sars-cov-2-and-use-of-facemasks-outdoors/

Dr. Cole also questioned the safety and legitimacy of the vaccines. They do not cause genetic changes or cancer and have been very thoroughly vetted. Here are some articles about them.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/is-the-covid19-vaccine-safe

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/covid-19-vaccines-safety-side-effects-and-coincidence-2021020821906

To conclude, COVID-19 has killed 561,000 Americans including a friend’s sister, so I take it quite seriously. I have not seen any evidence as to how many Americans have been been exposed and are immune at this point so it’s not appropriate to say the pandemic is over because the infection numbers are currently down. The good news is that 1/3 of America has had at least one shot of vaccine so I am hopeful for better days to come.