The blind continuing panic over COVID-19
With totalitarian Democratically-controlled cities and states across the nation now imposing odious rules requiring the wearing of masks at all times, based entirely on emotion and symbolism with absolutely no reliance on the actual science that says masks are not only useless against a virus like COVID-19, they could be medically harmful to the user, I think it is time to do a little science journalism and illustrate again the absurdity of this situation.
First, the Wuhan flu epidemic is clearly ending, as shown by the graph above. This graph, based on numbers from this site, shows that the disease reached its peak sometime near the start of May. Since then its threat has been declining steadily, until it reached today the lowest number of deaths since March, only 285.
Right now the chances of you catching COVID-19 and dying from it are practically nil, even if you live in densely populated states like New York, where only 14 people died yesterday from the virus.
Second, as predicted by some scientists, the lockdowns, social distancing, and silly symbolic mask use did nothing to stretch out the epidemic or flatten the curve. These scientists, ignored by politicians and the mainstream press, had predicted it would be a seasonal flu, dying out come summer, and that it would last from six to eight weeks, as it has done in every country where it has arrived, regardless of any government action.
That is exactly what the Wuhan flu has done. After eight weeks it is now fading away, like all such seasonal diseases.
Third, the numbers on this graph are certainly inflated. The total deaths in the U.S. assigned to the Wuhan flu as of today is just over 114,000. Based on numerous reports (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), we can estimate that this number is inflated from 25% o 50%.
The untrustworthiness of these numbers is further illustrated by graph below, outlining the number of Wuhan flu deaths in New York alone.
New York’s numbers are important because they account for 22% of all U.S. COVID-19 deaths. It was in that region that the epidemic centered.
Note that one big spike. It seems the state didn’t like the totals at one point and suddenly reassigned many deaths to COVID-19, all at once. That spike on May 7th also happened to be the same day U.S. recorded its most COVID-19 deaths. What a coincidence!
Such a spike should make anyone suspicious of this data, even if there wasn’t other evidence making these New York numbers suspect. And since New York accounts for about 22% of all U.S. deaths, if their numbers are suspect, then it likely means all U.S. numbers have been tainted.
Therefore, let’s assume that the numbers are inflated, and use the lower number for that overestimate, 25%. Reducing the total by that amount puts the approximate number of coronavirus deaths at about 85K, higher than the last harsh flu season in 2017-2018 but not unreasonably so.
Yet even this exaggerates the extent of the epidemic. Of the deaths assigned to COVID-19, about 25% occurred in long term care facilities for the elderly, with the average age at death to be 75. (See reports here, here, and here).
The disease was not an equal opportunity murderer. It killed almost no one under twenty, only a handful under forty, and just a few more under sixty. Almost all who died in these age groups as well as in older cohorts were already sick with something else, and like the flu, COVID-19 merely acted as the final sad blow.
The disease was simply not a threat to the general population. Like the flu it was merely an annoying illness, unless you were old and already badly weakened by some other chronic ailment.
And outside of New York and New Jersey, it was even a much smaller threat to the entire population. Those two states account for one third of all U.S. deaths. Subtract those two states and for the rest of the country, the disease looks even less dangerous than the ordinary flu, with about 76K deaths, which is likely not accurate because those numbers were probably inflated by 25%.
Moreover, it appears pretty likely that more elderly died in New York unnecessarily because of blatant government incompetence, where orders by the government forced nursing homes to accept infected patients, thus spreading the epidemic to the most vulnerable part of the population. Had New York government officials protected that population, it is almost certain that state’s death toll would have been less, as would have the country’s.
Nor am I done. Focusing solely on these numbers does not catch the true context of the disease. If you look at the the overall mortality rate, you find that 2020 is simply not much different then any other year. In fact, in 2020 the death rate per 1000 people, 8.88, is actually lower than every year from 1950 to 1993.
In other words, the Wuhan flu was simply not an unusual threat. Generally the people who died from it would have sadly died anyway, either from their primary chronic illness or from getting another respiratory illness — as generally happens every year routinely.
This last fact might be brutal and heartrending, but intellectual honesty demands we face it bluntly. COVID-19 simply did not significantly change overall death rates, and thus merely replaced other diseases.
Finally, these total numbers once again strongly suggest that — as the initial data soon after the virus escaped from China had indicated — the death rate for the Wuhan flu is really not much different than other similar respiratory diseases. It simply was just another new flu. It did not warrant the panic instigated by politicians and the press.
Now that the disease appears to be tailing off, as expected, the new mantra has switched from focusing on reporting deaths to focusing on reporting an increase in new cases.
The World Health Organization on Sunday reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases by its count, at more than 183,000 new cases in the latest 24 hours.
The UN health agency said Brazil led the way with 54,771 cases tallied and the U.S. next at 36,617. Over 15,400 came in in India.
Experts said rising case counts can reflect multiple factors including more widespread testing as well as broader infection.
O no! The disease is spreading and getting worse, all because we allowed businesses to reopen and people to start living normally again. Time to put everyone under house arrest again!
Just another example of more lies. The number of COVID-19 cases is increasing because we are simply testing more people. Early in the epidemic we didn’t have the testing kits and facilities to do it. Now we do, and as a result we are detecting more cases — which by the way are resulting in almost no deaths. The Wuhan flu is not deadly to healthy people. Like the flu, it makes you sick, and then after a week or so you get better.
It has all been a lie, from day one. Social distancing was only going to required for a few weeks, to flatten the curve. It is now required everywhere, for all time.
The lockdowns were only gong to be required for a few weeks, to flatten the curve. For many Democratic bastions, they are now never-ending, and elsewhere many of their odious rules (such as limiting patrons in restaurants) have become permanent.
Masks, a late-comer to this madness, were merely to help flatten the curve and slow the disease’s spread. Now they are being permanently mandated by law, even as the disease is fading away.
Millions were going to die in the U.S.. That was a lie. The health system would be overwhelmed. That was a lie. The disease would kill everyone. That was a lie. The disease is about to spike again with the ending of restrictions. That is also a lie.
In fact, you need only do a little digging and research to discover that almost everything we were told by our so-called “health experts” about this epidemic was false, either an outright lie or a clear demonstration of incompetence.
Now those same “health experts” are telling politicians we need to wear masks all the time, and those politicians, drooling at the power such a requirement gives them, are following suit and mandating it. I still won’t do it, and am quite willing to be arrested for not doing so. Unfortunately, I have found that am very alone in this. I had thought that such a ludicrous demand would finally cause Americans to revolt. Instead, they are bowing like sheep.
Worse, I am certain that a large bulk of the American population will either not read what I write here, or if they do, will simply refuse to believe it. They are paralyzed by an irrational fear of this disease, fueled by politicians and a media whose only real goal is to defeat Donald Trump in November, and who seem willing to do anything, even destroy the country, to do so.
That irrational fear holds the public, and they can’t let go of it. It thus prevents them from processing any facts that might defuse it, and allow them to think rationally again.
The result? An acquiescence to lies and bad policy that leaves us all open to more lies and bad policy, all designed to concentrate power into the hands of the few spouting those lies.
The big lie has won, and because of that American freedom is dying.
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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” Based on numerous reports (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), we can estimate that this number is inflated from 25% o 50%.T
The untrustworthiness of these numbers is further illustrated by graph below, outlining the number of Wuhan flu deaths in New York alone.
Note that one big spike. It seems the state didn’t like the totals at one point and suddenly reassigned many deaths to COVID-19, all at once. That spike on May 7th also happened to be the same day U.S. recorded its most COVID-19 deaths. What a coincidence!”
Bob, you aren’t the first no notice things like this
“The government are very keen on amassing statistics. They collect them, add them, raise them to the nth power, take the cube root and prepare wonderful diagrams. But you must never forget that every one of these figures comes in the first instance from the village watchman, who just puts down what he **** pleases.” – Josiah Stamp
Josiah Charles Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, GCB, GBE, FBA (21 June 1880 – 16 April 1941) was an English industrialist, economist, civil servant, statistician, writer, and banker. He was a director of the Bank of England and chairman of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.
Robert, you continue to write spot-on commentary on this subject, and I too am so disillusioned by my fellow community members who are just like you say – “sheep”. Grown, intelligent men and women who I have known forever are so willing to accept all the misinformation and wear their worthless masks and force their children to do so as well, kids as young as 3 and 4 years old! It is maddening, but I’ve begun to make a game out of “chasing” these poor souls around the grocery store, as my state of Ohio has not gone full face-diaper. I’m amazed at the reaction to these people as they see me maskless in an aisle and choose to go to the next, only to find that I end-a-rounded them and now are in their new aisle! It’s the only thing that keeps me from screaming sometimes. I also had hoped that these smart, savvy people would wake up to the abundant evidence, but also they have not.
Just to add more…
COVID-19 numbers in Texas justify no more restrictions, none. https://prattontexas.com/2020/06/19/covid-19-numbers-in-texas-justify-no-more-restrictions-none/
Mandated mask wearing New Mexico has COVID fatality rate 3 times that of Texas https://prattontexas.com/2020/06/22/mandated-mask-wearing-new-mexico-has-covid-fatality-rate-3-times-that-of-texas/
Bob:
I agree with what you write, but I don’t think the oppressors are winning. Maybe I’m wrong, but my take is that the left has over-reached big time, and that there will be a political backlash this November. Our salvation will come from the silent majority voting via secret ballot where their intimidation holds no sway.
In fact, the Covid scare combined with the complete collapse of social order across the country has shocked most people. And I don’t believe the polls trying to make us think braindead Joe is preferred because it is simply too ludicrous. The media can wail and hype all they want but most of the American people are not stupid. The only poll that counts is on November 3rd.
Robert wrote: “absolutely no reliance on the actual science that says masks are not only useless against a virus like COVID-19, they could be medically harmful to the user,”
It gives a new meaning to “death mask.”
The problem is that “they are bowing like sheep” because people believe the experts, too. In their ignorance, they believe that our death masks work in everyday life just the same as they work for the surgeon during surgery. Some of us explained the truth to a commenter in another thread, but undoubtedly he doubted us. The news media reinforces this misinformation, and everyone thinks that they are being charitable to those who are vulnerable to what they believe to be a virtually-fatal disease.
The truth has not set them free, because so few people know the truth. Instead, they try to be virtuous, which is a noble goal, but it is misapplied in this case. Wuhan flu is no worse than any other flu, it has merely been fought in all the wrong ways — apparently intentionally so — including putting so many people on ventilators, the main result being ruined lungs for the victims of the “good intentions.”
My county, or maybe it is my state, requires that we all wear our death masks every time we leave our houses. Businesses are legally required to refuse us service if we do not wear our death masks. Fortunately, the police do not stop us for not wearing masks in our cars, so I can still get around; the drive-throughs still serve us even if we don’t wear masks, so I can still eat; and a gas station near my house has only used the window and drawer since the lockdown began, so I can still refuel my car so that I can get to the drive-through to eat.
Not everyone bows like sheep. The Saturday block party at the end of my block continues, despite the Great Oppression’s lockdown, shutdown, smackdown.
MDN: I hope you are right, but as I said to Cotour in another comment, I am exceedingly pessimistic. Not only do I fully expect the Democrats to push hard for mail-in ballots (which will be easy to corrupt), the Republicans will as always go along, or at least fight half-heartedly (which will essentially be the same thing). The election results will thus be very easy to fake, and the only ones doing it will be Democrats.
Moreover, I see absolutely no evidence that the 40%+ of hardcore Democratic voters have opened their minds to voting for others. They remain as solid a base as always. They are not going to vote Republican.
Trump could easily win, and lose the Senate and the House. And even if Congress goes Republican I fully expect the down state elections in all cities controlled by Democrats (which is almost all large cities) to go Democrat, if not from real votes but from fake ones. This in turn could shift the results in every borderline state.
I pray I am very wrong. I can’t tell you how much a pray that I am wrong. If the election was held today you might be right, but November is a long way away, and the Democrats are the only ones on offensive. You never win playing defense, and that’s what the pro-American team is doing.
The UN chart notes that the death rate does not include any impact of the Covid virus from 2020 on. I’m not a chart expert so forgive me for my ignorance: does that mean the 8.88 does not include Covid deaths?
Dan, that’s how I read it, this site references several sources that look at excess mortality rates for the US and globally:
https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid
This interactive site lets you see how pneumonia and flu deaths compare state to state and year to year. I’m not sure if these statistics include cases of diagnosed Covid-19 of just pneumonia, flu and undiagnosed Covid-19 deaths marked down as pneumonia and flu deaths, I suspect the latter as the site makes no mention of Covid-19.
https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/mortality.html
The US testing rate is certainly increasing. The 7-day-rolling-averge has gone from 475,617 daily to 513,419 daily in the last week alone — an 8% increase. Given a steady infection level, an increase in testing will uncover more cases, but usually with a lowering in the fraction of tests coming back positive. However that fraction is also increasing, from 0.0445 positive to 0.0535 positive (rolling average again) in the last week — a 20% increase.
This suggests that either tests are being better targeted (via contact tracing schemes?) or that the infection rate is actually growing.
The rolling average of reported daily case numbers peaked back on April 10, then dropped for the next two months and was down 36% to its minimum on June 9. But it has been growing since then, and in the last two weeks has recovered 70% of what it had lost in the preceding two months.
COVID-19 related hospitalizations nationally have started climbing again (those in the NE are still dropping, but that is outweighed by increases in other regions), however the daily death rate is still dropping.
Better testing will lower the Case Fatality Rate without changing the Infection Fatality Rate, but there are several conditions which could lower the IFR itself, varying from the current new infections being more concentrated among youngsters, to improved treatment protocols, or even a decrease in the virulence of the disease.
But the daily death rate is the most lagging of all the indicators, so it will be interesting to revisit this in two to three weeks.
Wahhhh! Me tooo!
I have not worn the effin’ mask once! Dont even have one. Seeing them on 85% of my local west Michigan population (county pop. 265,066, 925 cases, 128 hospitalizations, 63 deaths) cause serious anxiety in me. My response is viseral and the urge to attack has to be surpressed. I hate feeling this way.
Im 54 and have never been diagnosed with depression or anxiety – really never even needed screening for them. But this anxiety is real and isnt that convenient for Big Pharma who will be one of the big winners of this crime against humanity. Im not popping them but many will and do so happily.
These masks horrify me. One could even say i am afraid of a society of masked people. My question for anyone willing to take a stab at it: why is one groups fear (virus contraction) socially abated while anothers’ more likely fear ( tyarranical over-reach and social humiliation) condemned?
I am so pissed off and so sick and tired of people who agree that they are useless and stupid but wear them anyway just so they can go into a place. Most stores will still allow maskfree shoppers – there are some that wont.
The other thing i hate is the ” just do it to show others that you are a good person”. Good people do not lie. The masks are a well-known lie!
I also hate that although my husband agrees with me he is not as strong willed – some will say obstinate – as i and he will cover with a hankie if he must. Also, when he returns to his office next week he will have to mask; they’ve already made some “cute ones” with the institution’s logo on it.
Thanks for letting me vent, i feel lonely these days.
God forgive me, i am filled with hate right now…
Why are the number of deaths so different in North America, excluding the crazy governors in NY and NJ. If you look at Canada western provinces are so low as with certain States. Do we need Herd immunity ?
There are some issues with the data quoted.
The 8.88 figure for overall mortality was, if you read the page linked, based on UN projections of mortality made before 2020 started, and it says right at the top of the Macrotrends page: “NOTE: All data from 2020 and beyond are UN projections and DO NOT include any impacts of the COVID-19 virus.” I’ve been trying to find accurate 2020 numbers, and haven’t been able to. In part because….
Second, the CDC does not include covid-19 in their flu data; they track it separately. Their numbers for the flu include only various strains of Influenza A & B (check out their flu data page: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm, which shows which strains they are counting, or their FluView data dashboard: https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/fluportaldashboard.html).
Comparing this year’s covid numbers, or this year’s flu numbers, to previous year’s influenza numbers, isn’t actually showing the effects of covid. You have to add the covid numbers on top of the US’s 2020 flu numbers to show the overall deaths. Essentially, covid+influenza represent a doubling of the flu-like deaths compared to the most-recent bad season of 2017-18. Covid is also having a small effect on those numbers for flu. Because more people are getting tested for flu, we have the same issue we do with covid: you find more cases of flu when you look harder.
The CDC was clearly right about masks. The tricky part is figuring out which time they were right since they have done a quadruple reverse.
I am going to put forward a general “rule of thumb” that I have been using for some years now, and have retrofitted to every “crisis” reported anywhere since the saccharine scare of the 70s, which prompted Chevy Chase on SNL parody news to announce that “Scientists have discovered that White Mice cause cancer.”
In any and ALL crises that hit the news. Skip the whole story about the “crisis” and look at the proposed solutions. If they are all about more government control of your lives, more government regulation and the subsequent reduction in Public Liberty then you have an 80% chance of being correct in assuming that the crisis is Fake News at best and out right lies, and propaganda at worst. All designed to accumulate power in central governments at all levels, all the way down to State and City governments, with the end goal to be the use of that power simply to use power. More than half the time, the accrual of that power does not even have the motive of MONEY. The nasty restrictions on Liberty almost always cause a DROP in revenue to the central governments as the tax base takes hit after hit after hit.
Buy the clue from Patric Henry as he addressed the Virginia Convention for the Ratification of the Constitution, https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/patrick-henry-virginia-ratifying-convention-va/
search the word “force” in your browser. You will find this.
“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined. ”
I wish I could find the quote I used in college wherein Henry, as I recall, closed the Va convention with the rejoinder.
The Public Liberty is a jewel beyond price. Unfortunately the only thing that may preserve it is main force.
Be warned. Patric Henry warned us all. His grandson was with Picket at Gettysburg.
@Amy Craig:
This is my first visit to this site. I came over here on a link from Maggie’s Farm. But you have posted exactly what I was ready to post. You rant for me.
Yes. This is the creepiest and most horrifying thing I have seen in my sixty seven years. Furthermore, I believe that the mask is a talisman of the Church of Woke. It signifies piety in the new religion. Horrifying the squares is no accident.
JWM
Six months ago, you could not find anyone who would tolerate the Muslim niqab. Now, men wear masks as symbols of virtue. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
jwm: Welcome. You and Amy Craig might want to read this earlier essay on masks: I will NOT wear a mask.
Sadly, since I wrote that essay my spineless governor, Doug Ducey, has out of terror at the increase in new cases (because of increased testing), has decided to allow local communities to decide whether they will mandate mask use. Since most local cities are run by the modern fascist Democratic Party, they have all mandated masks.
I still refuse. They can go to hell.
Note that almost all the deaths from the virus in NY and NJ occurred within a 30 mile radius of NYC.
Most deaths in NJ occurred in those counties along the Hudson, near Manhattan and the Bronx.
Basically, the “pandemic” was a Greater NYC Region pandemic.
In Michigan, almost all deaths occurred withing a 30 mile radius of Detroit; the rest of MI there was no pandemic.
In Italy, almost all deaths occurred within the Lombardy Region (where Milan is located). This region has many mfr. facilities employing Chinese workers. In fact, there was regular flights from Milan to Wuhan China.
Sweden, which was supposed to have 50 MILLION !!!! deaths (I am being facetious ) according to the resident expert at Imperial College, UK , has about 5,000; most of whom are in Stockholm and somewhat concentrated in the “immigrant” sectors of that city.
This “pandemic” was really a problem in about a half dozen to a dozen regions of planet earth and was confined to elderly with pre-existing conditions.
As an aside, the epicenter of the Swine Flu in 2009 here in the USA was – drum roll please !!!!! – Elmhurst, in the borough of Queens, NYC.
Unban Faces! Free our expressions!
This isn’t about viral safety, it’s about isolating the populace and severing the ties between the common folk, why else do you think the anarchists and insurrectionists are allowed to riot maskless if they please, while all others must have their faces muzzled?
Btw, I don’t wear either(mandated at work, though, I only do that because I’m
paid to>:( ) and that refrain at the top of my post ha been going thru my head for the last couple of days. Do ppl a favor and spread it.
This isn’t about safety, or even protecting others, it’s about isolation and fear!
They think keeping us terrified and separate will get them more power. I pray that they are wrong. :(
Here is another gem of Mr Henry’s.
https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lled&fileName=003/lled003.db&recNum=327&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Fhlaw%3A%40field%28DOCID%2B%40lit%28ed0032%29%29%230030003&linkText=1,
If I did that correctly it is at the top of the page. If not click the little button at the top “turn to page” and type in 316.
Scary stuff, entirely prescient.
“Under the abominable veil of political secrecy and contrivance, your most valuable rights may be sacrificed by a most corrupt faction, without having the satisfaction of knowing who injured you.”
I am going for more of Henry’s stuff. Darn near page by page from the Convention if Virginia. The quote in my previous post can be found near the bottom of this page, https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lled&fileName=003/lled003.db&recNum=56&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Fhlaw%3A%40field%28DOCID%2B%40lit%28ed0032%29%29%230030003&linkText=1
Called page 45 of 633. If the link does not work right you can use that “Turn to Image” button, typr in 45.
Unfortunately I can not find that quote in this material. I found the sentiment with somewhat different words, but not that exact quote. I have it in a box in this house in a footnote, but dang, I have not found that box yet.
Yeah. For all of the Liberal notion of the women’s movement. They have succeeded where Islam failed. They have gotten American Women to embrace the veil.
Lincoln county OR, exempts people of color from “mandatory” face coverings.
Can’t tell satire anymore, this country has gone insane.
https://nypost.com/2020/06/23/oregon-county-issues-face-mask-order-exempting-non-white-people/
I still see people alone outside wearing masks.
So the US is now heading into a second peak, unlike the first this will be across many states and many cities. Combined with the blow-out in opposition to measures that restrict the spread of the virus, and no doubt some people buying Trump’s anti-testing views, I expect this peak will be higher than the first in terms of the number of positive tests. The death rates are also certain to increase to back over a thousand a day.
“Just another example of more lies. The number of COVID-19 cases is increasing because we are simply testing more people. ”
We are testing more but there is a lot of uncertainty. Without antibody testing we don’t have a good picture of how many people were sick before. People who presented symptoms were tested and now we can test when it is needed to know if they were exposed or will expose other people. We can test at least 500,000* a day.
The number of infected isn’t just going up due to more testing. All through the shutdown, we were testing hundreds of thousands of people, far more than those who were presenting symptoms.
We have seen “science” all over the place on this virus and even those saying it isn’t even a respiratory virus but a cardiac one. People can pick and choose what “science” supports them as it is all inconclusive. There are still too many unknowns for people to make unequivocal statements but instead we are getting sensationalism and irrationality from all sides.
In the face of the unknown, it is prudent to take low cost and low effort steps to mitigate risk. This doesn’t eliminate risk nor place risk as something not to be encountered. We have people saying that the risk is to great to do anything and that there is zero risk. Both groups are wrong and are so blinded by their obstinance that they can’t make good decisions.
* Sorry Andrew_W. Trump isn’t anti-testing. His administration oversaw the creation, manufacture, and distribution of testing in a scale unseen in history. Under normal circumstances, it takes many months if not years to create a product, scale up manufacturing, and develop distribution channels to reach this many people. Doing what Trump did in such a short period of time is unprecedented and he did it by working with companies and leveraging the systems they already had in place and then working with state and local governments to make them aware of the resources available to them that they knew nothing about.
Wodun, Trump said that he told his people to “slow the testing down” to reduce the number of cases identified. My point is that Trump has, through his stated position on the Covid epidemic, repeatedly undermined measures taken to restrict the spread of the disease.
The amount of testing that’s been done in America is in line with that that has been done in numerous other countries when you take population into account, the US was just slower off the mark than many other Western countries due to the well known CDC stuff-ups.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/full-list-daily-covid-19-tests-per-thousand?country=KOR~USA~LTU~NZL~FRA~GRC~NOR~GBR~ITA~ISL~BEL~AU
The continuing blind panic is not color blind, at least not in Oregon:
https://nypost.com/2020/06/23/oregon-county-issues-face-mask-order-exempting-non-white-people/
Edward: You I think are the fourth person that has linked to this story in a comment on BtB. That I think is very good news. It means it is going viral, the best thing that could happen.
Too bad this was all wrong.
All I want to know is this:
1. How many people are needing to be admitted into the hospital due to Covid. And 2. How many of those admitted to the hospital have died due to Covid? And, 3. How many of those who did not go to the hospital and chose to stay home died due to Covid.
And 4. I will assume that everyone else who it is established contracted Covid that was successfully treated as an out patient or they just went through the disease and survived is the majority of victims of this disease. These in my estimation are the 4 most relevant metrics to properly understand. And all other charts and statistics and minutia is just long term high IQ nerd food.
And in between whether the virus is raging in your area or whether it has already cycled through, wash your hands throughout the day, don’t touch your face, in general stay away from others. And if you are in a situation where you are forced to be in close contact with others then wear a mask of some sort.
And the wearing of the mask is an effort to possibly control you from projecting out of your mouth the spreading the virus is if YOU have it. Because believe me the manner in which the majority of the public wears their masks is in no way effective in the least.
Just the other day a woman came in wearing a strange mask, I asked her what exactly are you wearing? She replied that she forgot her mask and was wearing her sports bra. Cracked me up.
And this morning at the local diner: If you go into the diner to order you wear a face covering of some sort. I stand outside and give my order and when I pick it up I pull me tee shirt over my face for the 45 seconds I am inside.
And this is an interesting aspect of the governors attempts to control the spread of the virus: You walk to the diner wearing a mask, you sit down at a table and three of your friends meet you there, and you all sit there with no masks on. As if unrelated people from different house holds sitting at a table in very close proximity to other people on the street without masks talking and eating your breakfast somehow gives you immunity from transmitting or contracting this virus.
If anything I would think this configuration would in short order cause an increase in the transmission of the disease, no?
And I have compassion for all governors in their efforts to draw reasonable and effective lines of operation that might be helpful in dialing down how this virus moves through a population, but there is only so much that a government can reasonably do.
And then after that it becomes an abuse of power.
And what will happen when there is offered a vaccine? Will you take it? Will you be mandated to take it? Allen Dershowitz says that the government can legally compel citizens to take such a therapy. Trump has already stated that he will not do such a thing, Joe Biden however is a whole nother story.