McConkey wouldnāt want to know who John Ioannidis is because he has become the primary hate figure of not just the Zero Covid movement, but also the supporters of forever lockdown, the zero Covid in all but name. In terms of politics, thatās pretty much all of the nutcase left, most of the leaders and a lot of the followers are champagne socialists (wankers in other words). Their basic motto is you poor people over there need to fucking stay locked down as long as this thing lasts, so we and our very special parents and grandparents are safe. That may seem a bit harsh, but the reality is that itās the parents and grandparents of the poor and low income that are in the main dying, and lockdown doesnāt protect them in the slightest, they donāt live in leafy suburbs or mansions on the hill where they can safely isolate, work from home, and order their groceries and cooked meals online. They work in the low income āessentialā jobs where thereās a higher risk of exposure to Covid, they have to go to crowded grocery stores to shop where 99% of masks worn are fuck all use, and go on public transport, etc.
But lockdown is for their own good they say, we are saving them from themselves, as they sip their Moet and nibble on their artisan hummus and seven grain crackers. The same cunts with their BLM signs on their half acre front lawns, who would absolutely shit themselves if a black person walked through their neighborhood. Defund the police they say, but they donāt really mean that, as they demand the police show up if a dog shat on their immaculate lawn. Wankers all.
Ioannidis is by no means infallible, and he has made some dubious conclusions on limited data, but on a global basis he is more right than wrong. His work was done off antibody studies so there may be sampling issues, and it dates from summer of last year so out of date. The global median IFR for Covid may now be roughly 0.5% but the range is enormous, from less than 0.1% to at least 1.5%. Thereās a very broad range of Covid mortality across regions, and it isnāt easily explained. Low death rates in Africa and most of Asia, demographics and diet, reporting issues, life expectancy, sunlight, lockdowns, no lockdowns, who the fuck knows.
What we do know is that in wealthy western countries reporting is fairly good and the statistics are consistent. Deaths range from 100 - 300/100k population and the IFR calculated at 2 times CFR is 1.0% (Europe is 1.1%, the US 0.9%). That seems intuitively right to me, a higher than median IFR in wealthy countries where people have a long life expectancy and a lot are obese.
Where it all goes tits up is when itās politicized. The US has the highest death rate in the world (it doesnāt, Europe is higher), itās those people that wonāt wear masks (itās not, the virus donāt care about your fancy scarf), people opposing lockdowns are murderers, people for lockdowns are murderers, etc. Itās all bullshit. Itās a nasty old disease and you donāt want to get it, and should do everything you can to avoid getting it and endangering others, but on the flipside you also canāt expect other people to bear the burden. I do think itās unfair what we are doing to young people, they should be out enjoying themselves, working on a career, riding, the things young people have always done. And of course the reality is a lot of them are, which makes a mockery of governments who fucked up the early response and are now trying to be seen to take stern action, like Boris the clown taking credit for lockdowns, or your silly person with the pointed head that views me as a dangerous threat even though Iām now fully vaccinated.
Was that long enough for you cunts? Itās now a simple choice. Vaccinate the old and vulnerable and whoever else wants it and OIUTF, or concede to the nutters and stay locked down for the next decade until all threats of possible variants are gone.