Again that’s true. But it’s always worth noting that lockdowns are no jok either, and there could yet be a big fallout from that too.
my own opinion is this
I don’t like lockdowns, nobody does.
I’d rather attempt short lockdowns if it means less people end up sick at once and overcrowding the hospitals at which point the only way out of it is lockdowns anyway
I’ve got a fundamental problem with governments closing thousands of businesses, putting hundreds of thousands out of work. I think it should only be done if unavoidable. And I don’t think it was unavoidable
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OK mate
One of the problems with the internet is that people can never admit they are wrong. In the first few months of this I was open to the possibility that Sweden may have been striking the right balance. But time quickly showed that wasn’t the case at all. Continuing to maintain the Swedes were correct is nothing more than pig headed dogma at this stage, pure head in the sand stuff.
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I was wrong the opposite way. I thought they were going for a herd immunity approach but it turns out they weren’t at all and had achieved what they did through recommendations rather than restrictions.
Did you hear about the dead swede?
There was a big turnip at the funeral
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I think it’s time you accepted you called it horribly wrong and move on. You’re at Trump levels of denial.
But a zero Covid strategy has actually worked in Australia and New Zealand, so it’s demonstrably not nuts, there’s nothing nuts about it. It’s fair enough if you think it’s not achievable here because of political considerations, but in epidemiological terms it has proven to be possible. Arguing otherwise is being wilfully obtuse.
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Called what horribly wrong? I warned of the unfolding pandemic on TFK in January, and was attacked by clowns on here for being sensational. I happen to think lockdowns of the kind undertaken in the western world since March are not just unjustified but ineffective, and the evidence backs that up. My views are supported by thousands of scientists who are a lot smarter than you or I.
There’s no contradiction there unless you can point one out. The failure to protect the most vulnerable in nursing homes across most western countries is the greatest scandal of this pandemic. It should have been the first priority.
Why is there still this obsession with Sweden?
The point on Sweden was always that it was an interesting control population for Covid. You can agree or disagree with not locking down, but it was what it was. The outcomes were important. The reality was that the death was nowhere near predicted, and the healthcare system got through it. It looked even more interesting when the WHO denied the impact of seasonality.
We were staring down the barrel of years of Covid with no vaccine, so we needed a long term consistent policy.
It makes no great difference at this stage in importance of the first lockdown but that seems to be the only decision that matters for some. You could lockdown hard first time out and end up scuttered next time out.
Case in point is the Czech Republic. They were about 100th in the world for deaths per million in September with just over 400 deaths, they now have well over 8,500 and are in the top 20 in the world.
It’s possible in an island nation (or continent in the case of Australia) as you can close your borders and have a mandated quarantine on any citizens you allow back. How could you do that in Europe, or even Ireland for that matter which has a non enforced border? And then you also have to keep such measures in place until the virus has been eliminated everywhere or enough people are vaccinated. It’s not just political in Europe or the US, I don’t think it was possible.
There are probably lots of other factors as well, climate and seasonality, etc. Australia has had 903 deaths or 36 per million, mostly over their winter June - August. Their drop off since then may not be that different to what the western hemisphere saw in June - Sept as the weather warmed up.
I’d rather not be “let live” in a home myself, but each to their own.
A lot of people say that when they are younger but their perspective changes as they get older for many reasons.
The bit below where you said Sweden was done with Covid.
Who wants to live to 100? Someone who’s 99
I understand that.
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First person vaccinated in the UK at 6.45 this morning. Margaret Keenan, a 90 year old lady from Fermanagh.
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