(vial Common Cents)
Go ahead, I will wait.
Done? Yeah, it is middlin' long, but it is worth the read.
Sweden has, apparently, run the gauntlet and is now on the other side.
The numbers in the article are pretty solid. The approach Sweden took is much more sensible. And it has worked much better that the "Flatten the Curve" strategy (that was originally supposed to be for just TWO WEEKS) and has now stretched on for more than 150 days, with no real end in sight.....at least until a vaccine is tested and shown to be efficacious (and safe)).
Every time people interact, we have the chance to transmit this (or lots of others) disease. Only "slightly" letting people interact simply kills us slowly...if it will kill us at all. Thinking that the current "Lockdown" or limited social interaction will prevent people from getting the disease at all is foolish, it simply spreads out the (very small) infection rate over time.....and doesn't really solve the problem. To think otherwise is to abandon logic.
Allowing protests with no "Social Distancing" but preventing people from congregating elsewhere is foolish and illogical. If Distancing is a requirement for safety, then is is required everywhere, not only outside of a political protest....If it is safe to walk shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of strangers, then it is safe to attend a wedding or funeral with your friends and relatives.....or at a high school football game...or on a beach or at a party.... If it is safe to eat in a restaurant with no masks but forcing the patrons to wear the masks while walking TO the table is idiocy. To release prisoners is another example of foolish, poorly thought out prevention. If masks really work, then they should work as well in a prison as at a store or other place of business. Releasing prisoners harms society, the entity that the imprisonment of the prisoner is supposed to protect....and if the measure required to keep those same members of society work in public, they should work in a prison as well To think that the Social Distancing spacing of 6 feet makes a difference when there is no allowance for airflow or other factors is also foolish. (and there is no evidence that "6 Feet" is any more efficacious than 1 meter or 4 feet or 5 feet. It was just a number that was picked)
Yet we persist in these poorly thought out practices when we have an example, imperfect perhaps, but valid, that shows what a mostly urban population experiences with little or no "Covid safety" practices as we here in the United States are following, to the detriment of our society and our economy.. Sweden is fully operational, and has been, yet they have, effectively, no current "Pandemic" of Covid-19 in their borders.
Yet we persist in following a poorly thought out and proven ineffective policy, enforced by our government entities, to the detriment of our population....WHY?
Until either well over 70% of the population has been exposed, or until a vaccine is found and distributed, Covid 19 will be specter that will hang over us. And the measures we are taking aren't fixing the problem...Nor, oddly, are our hospitals even close to overwhelmed....
When you see the statistics on the morning news tomorrow, or the evening news, ask yourself....why don't they tell us the positivity rate for the massive amounts of testing.....oddly, they leave out that statistic. Also, why don't they give us the death RATE for those folks who HAVE Covid?
The data is massaged and presented to give the recipient the impression that this is a massive "Pandemic"...when it really isn't...but they don't want you to know that. The highest rate of death is currently New Jersey...at 178 people dying per 100,000 people.....that is a death rate of 0.00178, or less than two-tenths of a percent. And that is the HIGHEST of all the states in the country. Yet we re told to cower in fear and wear a mask so we won't all die.....When in reality, the chance of dying from Covid is really very, very low.
Sweden essentially has universal healthcare--that would be Obamacare on steroids. If Sweden is in as good of shape as the author suggests, I would think their healthcare system plays a large role.
ReplyDeleteAre y'all on board with that?
One thing does concern me about the author's agenda. In the comments section, he pretty much dismisses any long-term and/or lasting complications from Covid. The virus has been around for less than a year; it's ridiculous to come to any conclusion on long-term effects.
I look forward to a scientific study of the path Sweden chose, but this article isn't that (the author admits this in his first sentence). Here's a BBC article that depicts the lack of consensus on whether or not Sweden chose the correct path.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53498133
Pete
Hey, CP (or "Pete" if you prefer to keep the fiction going): that has to be the most wishy-washy refutation you have ever used.
ReplyDeleteIf yer gonna refute, then get something that is a bit more definitive...
I really don't care if there is a"consensus"....there was a "consensus" that we were all gonna be dead from Glowbal Warmenating too. Both from heat and from drowning via the rise in sea level that was gonna inundate our coastlines....and that all the glaciers were gonna be gone several years ago (hint: None of that happened). Barry Obama told us all about how we needed to stop Global Warming...because the "consensus" of scientists told us all of the above......then bought a seaside mansion on an ISLAND.
Your "Consensus" is a bunch of liberal weenies following each other around and repeating what the others say...like a bunch of women deciding fashion. Very little actual science anywhere among the "consensus".
Go tell it to your liberal friends. The numbers do show that Sweden has done things differently(and probably better) than the US and most of the rest of western Europe. Consensus never found a cure, made a scientific breakthrough, nor contributed anything to science. It's just a bunch of liberals following a leader and repeating the current RightSpeak.
A little overboard on the deflection don't you think, B?
ReplyDeleteI wasn't trying to refute anything. The good swedish doctor was simply telling his story, but I'm not ready to take one anecdote and turn it into fact like you apparently are.
I was simply trying to ask a question. Are you ok with universal healthcare? The swedes pay relatively high taxes and their government provides the vast majority of healthcare. There is some private health insurance, but it is very rare. Do you not believe that a country's healthcare system plays a role in that country's response to a healthcare crisis?
Like I said in my first comment, I look forward to a scientific study of the path Sweden chose because it is different from pretty much every other country. But to come to a conclusion now while the pandemic is far from over is a little premature.
Not sure what your rant about consensus and global warming had to do with anything.
Finally, my name is Pete, and that is a fact. I am not CP, and that is another fact. If you believe otherwise, you are wrong.
Pete
No, I don't think that the fact that Sweden has Universal Health Care caused any difference in the (current) outcome. Yes, their health care is great. But so is the health care in the US. People who needed care got care in both places. However, a very low percentage of people exposed to or contracting Covid needed any sort of care, in either Sweden or the US (or, for that matter, anywhere). So the Universal Health care that they have in Sweden played little or more likely NO role in the outcome. And no, I don't support Universal Health Care her in the US. Nice try though.
ReplyDeleteSimply the fact that the population in Sweden got to Herd Immunity levels quickly is the more likely answer.
As for the Consensus bit, that was simply to show that I care little about you "consensus" argument.
It is odd that you burst into existence here and at Misfit's blog shortly after I asked CP to not comment here unless he could be polite and decent. Back in the Usenet days we called folks like you "SockPuppet" for a reason. I see no reason to believe your persona is any different. You sound like a more polite CP, (same word choices, same sort of arguments, same philosophy, and same attitude) and likely are a sockpuppet of his. Until you prove otherwise, I will continue to believe that.
" People who needed care got care in both places."
ReplyDeleteThis is true for direct Covid treatment, but what about treatment for the underlying conditions that make victims so susceptible. Even with Obamacare, there are still an estimated 27 million people without health insurance and another 17 million who are underinsured. That's a lot of Americans not getting treated for obesity, diabetes, hypertension, etc. while their Swedish counterparts are. Probably one of the reasons Swedes are statistically healthier than Americans with less instances of obesity and diabetes, among other things per capita. Not sure how you can exclude the Swedish healthcare system from playing a role in these statistics, but agree to disagree, I guess.
I suppose the big question is how many deaths are acceptable to get the US to herd immunity?
Finally, all I know about CP88 is what I read in his comments on EB Misfit's blog. Again, any further belief on your part is wrong. Anyway not sure how I'd prove it. And not sure I care. That's a "you" problem.
But if I cause you such heartache, ask me to leave.
Pete