Ivor Cummins is a former R&D manager at Hewlett-Packard, with a degree in biochemical engineering. He describes himself as a "Master Technologist" who spent "a quarter-century as the best complex problem-solving leader amongst the top tier". Before getting involved in the Covid-19 issue he says he spent "8 years decoding the root causes of modern chronic disease". This is a reference to his career as a proponent of the low-carb and keto diets, which he discusses in his book Eat Rich, Live Long (2018), and on his Fat Emperor podcast. He has a YouTube channel and a Patreon.
Cummins’ conversion to Covid Scepticism was gradual. In March, he was in favour of mass testing and face masks, describing universal use of the latter as a "no brainer", and accusing the Swedes of making "a simple but very unfortunate mistake" by not using them.
He has since said that mandatory face mask laws are "the most anti-scientific thing I've seen in my lifetime", and now believes that mass testing creates a huge number of false positives. He is thus a believer in the idea of a "casedemic", in which the number of infections appears to rise but hospital admissions and deaths do not follow (see our response to this claim). He elaborated on this theory in a YouTube video in early September, when rates of coronavirus infection in the UK and Europe were at relatively low levels. In the video, he claimed that 80% of Europeans had "de facto" immunity to the virus, that the pandemic had been over since June, and that any resurgence of Covid-19 later in the year would be similar to a normal flu season. As of January 2021, the video has had 1.7 million views.
The video resulted in Cummins gaining some degree of mainstream media attention, with slots on talkRADIO and the Telegraph’s Planet Normal podcast. Cummins held to his theory throughout the Autumn, insisting that there could be "no second wave without a second virus". He was not deterred by rising case numbers and the large increase in hospitalisations and deaths. His belief in the casedemic theory appeared to make him Pollyannaish about the rise in the infection rate. As late as 4 January 2021, he expressed doubt that the large spike in cases in Ireland would result in "big mortality impacts and really severe cases". Within three weeks, Covid deaths had risen tenfold.
Turning to the UK, he admitted that hospitals were "filling up here and there" but that mortality was "way, way lower" than in the first wave because of "community immunity". When the number of hospitalisations and deaths inevitably rose, he blamed the government for failing to prepare.
More recently, Cummins has insisted that the second wave of 2020/21 is the "winter resurgence" he mentioned in September, but that the number of deaths has been greatly exaggerated by mass testing. He also claims (incorrectly) that the World Health Organisation ordered doctors to list Covid-19 as the cause of death on death certificates if the deceased had tested positive for the coronavirus within 28 days.
Cummins is unable to explain how such a large “resurgence” is possible when 80% are “de facto immune” (as he still claims). He remains a fierce opponent of lockdowns and rails against "China Lockdown Science". He has even claimed that governments know when the infection rate is going to decline and time their lockdowns to make them look as if they work.
Cummins says he intends to make a feature-length documentary with fellow low-carb diet book author Donal O’Neill, "charting one man's remarkable rise to prominence as a 'go to' Covid commentator and deep data analyst". So far, the Kickstarter to pay for the documentary has raised over £145,000.
July 20 2020: “No second wave...without a second virus. Never happened in history.”
August 11 2020: “No, of course [there is no increase cases], the Epidemic is over - it’s a #Casedemic now”
August 21 2020: “Winter resurgence sure - but much, much smaller than April 2020 - this is endemic now, pretty much over and joining the flus”
October 7 2020: “But then the question, recently, the cases are through the roof, but the deaths are still really low, and it looks like the winter is not going to be much different than a normal winter [...] so you gotta shut all this down, big time, and then the deceit, you have to double down on your lockdown, so when the winter ends up being pretty normal you can end up saying the lockdown made it so.”
December 23 2020 [On the rise in Covid-19 deaths in Sweden]: “Look at the all cause [mortality] you numpty - the second wave is a paper tiger, a PCR-positive fraud”
January 4 2021: “The million dollar question is, with this massive amount of positives [in Ireland], are we seeing big, big mortality impacts and really severe cases or are we seeing a winter resurgence without the sting of mortality that would make it a problematic epidemic?”
January 8 2021: “Liar. I foretold the second wave, and even quantified it approximately”
January 9 2021: “I've done more for population health than >99.9% out there, but I never claim it.”
January 10 2021: “This is not a "second wave" - the "second wave" was the threat of a 1918-style "second wave”, which enabled terror all fucking summer. This is a seasonal / winter resurgence of the dominant virus.”