Posted on 08/03/2020 3:35:10 AM PDT by Kaslin
No matter what position you take on lockdowns, masks, Hydroxychloroquine, or any other COVID-related issue, theres a doctor or expert out there whose opinion you can easily grab and use to bolster your case. Indeed, most people have formed their opinions on what should be done about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and consequently have decided which experts they want to listen to, follow on social media, and share material from. For better or worse, to a large degree, were firmly entrenched in our own echo chambers. So to a degree, appealing to authority is almost a moot point at this point in the game, whether your authority is the CDC and WHO, who have consistently been wrong more than they have been right, or that group of doctors who were censored and even dismissed from jobs last week for daring to express an unpopular yet sincerely held medical opinion.
What isn't a moot point, however, is observable patterns, which exist independently of what any of the experts have to say. Now Im no doctor, and neither are most of you, but I am a functioning, thinking adult with at least half a brain (some of you may dispute this, and youre certainly entitled to your opinion!). Im also capable of analyzing statistics, reading charts, and noticing patterns. And the patterns Im noticing have me scratching my head. As someone who doesnt sit well with cognitive dissonance, media gaslighting, and especially governmental overreach, if Im being told I shouldnt or cant go out and that Im not allowed to breathe free air when I do, the evidence on the ground should damn-well comport with the logic they are giving us to justify their extreme measures. But they arent, not in any observable, logical way.
Lets start with Sweden, that quasi-socialist winter wonderland of woke snowflakes that somehow decided to go against the grain on COVID and consequently went seemingly overnight from the worlds darling to the worlds next Khmer Rouge. Not only did Sweden NOT implement draconian lockdowns when this whole thing started, they never even mandated mask-wearing (oh, the horror!). According to nearly all the experts, Sweden was supposed to be something like a scene out of the Book of Revelation by now, complete with rivers of blood and bodies piled up to horses bridles. Hospitals were going to be overrun. People were going to be dying in the streets. There was going to be carnage unlike nothing anyone had ever seen...
Except, none of that happened. Not even close. Absent an early Cuomo-style failure to adequately protect nursing homes that hurt their numbers early on, that countrys strategy was a tremendous success. Sweden implemented a few sustainable, common-sense measures, bent toward the storm, and rode it through. And now, they are reaping the rewards. Last week, Bloomberg reported on the countrys Promising Covid-19 Data as New Cases Plunge. State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell and the Health Agency of Sweden report declining cases since a late June peak and a death rate that has plunged right along with it. That Sweden has come down to these levels is very promising, said Tegnell. The curves are going down and the curves for the seriously ill are beginning to approach zero.
Everyone from the lamestream media to President Trump himself disparaged Swedens approach, and they were all ridiculously, cartoonishly wrong. Now that Sweden has obtained some degree of herd immunity and is back to some sense of relative normalcy, where do they go to get their apology?
Other inconvenient patterns exist closer to home. Consider South Dakota, where its courageous leader and (hopefully) future presidential candidate, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, steadfastly refused to shut down her state nor require masks. Aside from a bad outbreak in a meat-packing plant early on, the infection and death rate in that admittedly less population-dense state has remained consistently low.
Want a more populous state? How about Georgia, where Brian Kemp was supposedly conducting an experiment in human sacrifice by reopening his state too soon and not mandating masks at the state level. Cases did rise (but havent spiked) nearly TWO MONTHS after their lockdown ended, but deaths are still below 4,000 statewide and are nowhere near any sort of drastic spike. Now, it even looks like hospitalizations have peaked and are trending down.
For those who insisted we needed New York-style lockdowns in the Sunbelt states of Arizona, Texas, and Florida to fight those surges, consider this data pattern from former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson: AZ/FL/TX: 60 million people, no lockdowns (now), 23,000 peak hospitalizations, 500ish (hopefully) peak daily deaths. New York: 20 million people, hard lockdown, 18,000 peak hospitalizations, 1000 peak daily deaths. Lets lockdown forever! Indeed.
Other narrative-inconvenient data patterns exist in the places that supposedly did things right. Japan and even Hong Kong are seeing small case spikes - but big trend changes - despite militaresque adherence to universal masking the entire duration of the pandemic. And then theres California, land of fruits and nuts, whose governor implemented a statewide mask mandate on June 18. Two weeks later, cases were three times what they were before the mandate and have continued to roll along at around the 10,000 mark every day since. (Have you noticed that leftists who criticize surging red states for not doing enough mysteriously leave California out?) Globally, Brazil, India, and Mexico have all experienced significant spikes in cases case and death rates lately despite early masking requirements on significant portions of their populations. So apparently, those who told us coronavirus would be pretty much eliminated if we would just wear masks for a few weeks were either ignorant or lying or both.
All of the above, along with plenty of other data patterns I didnt have room to mention, raise the following questions: If lockdowns are the answer, why did Georgia cases rise two months after theirs ended? Why did Sweden never get overwhelmed? If they just work while theyre being implemented, what is to stop the virus when people do come out? If masks work, why is the virus surging in places that implement and strictly enforce their use? Why are places that never masked doing fine?
These data patterns dont suggest that COVID-19 isnt dangerous or deadly to some people, but they do suggest that viruses are pretty good at doing what they do and theres not a lot that humans can do especially through lockdowns or face coverings to stop them. Like it or not, the likely only way out is going to be some form of herd immunity. Fortunately, especially with T cells and the fact that many more have had it than the actual case count, we could be much farther along than we think.
The problem is that this was never about public health.
I think it’s a safe bet that the “experts” and talking heads will try to maintain the panic for a few more months. Around about November 4th, however, the “experts” and the talking heads will begin speaking of certain “data patterns” which indicate that we are further along than we think, herd immunity is working wonders, and that masks and quarantines have been mostly a waste of time. And the sheeple will be happy to get the news.
Thats very true. But the solution to both problems - that is, the virus and the political use of the virus - is to end the restrictions and get back to work - and to school and to church and to the gym and even to your favorite bar.
only if Biden is elected ...
This farce will end when enough people stand up and say they have had it while throwing down the masks. Once a few thousand stand you can bet others will follow and there is little any Gov (local or State) can do once enough people take a stand and I doubt they would even try.
You mention SD ...
Where would VT fit into your narrative?
the lockdowns/shutdowns were based on totally false data. once that was known, that should have been the end of the panic.
video in German of End the Pandemic - Freedom Day protest in Berlin on Saturday with a million or more. camera pans 360 degrees, people as far as the eye can see and beyond. impossible to see how many behind the monuments north and south, or through the trees on the right.
all FakeNewsMSM went with 17-20,000 figure. they dont want the world to know the truth. FakeNewsMSM called the protesters neo-Nazis, far-right, but they were just ordinary people from across Germany, demanding an end to restrictions in the name of covid:
Youtube: 01.08.2020 Berlin - Tag der Freiheit Live - 1,3 Millionen Menschen UNGLAUBLICH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htDrDieOgh0
1 Aug: TV6: Thousands of protests were held in Berlin against epidemiological restrictions
German police have disbanded Saturdays protest against restrictions imposed in Berlin on the coronavirus epidemic, the MTI writes. Police justified the action on the grounds that the organizers of the demonstration did not ensure compliance with health regulations.
***Authorities say a crowd of 20,000 marched through the city center to the Brandenburg Gate, but organizers estimate that ***1.3 million protesters took part in the movement...
https://tv6.news/thousands-of-protests-were-held-in-berlin-against-epidemiological-restrictions/
Sadly, I think it will go on for awhile. The herd will be nervous about school, the flu will start in about October to add to the anxiety, and then it will be winter with people staying in more and breathing stale air. People just don’t want to take this head on and the powers that be know they can jerk the chain at will and there will be a high degree of obedience.
‘only if Biden is elected ...’
I disagree; should Trump win (we should know in about a month how likely that is, but not now) the left will see that as a tactic, the virus panic will have failed, and the sheeple will be getting to the saturation point...
the left will have to move on to other tactics; this time, pivoting away from the lame duck Trump and adopting scorched earth style tactics designed to destroy the Republican brand at large and the pubbie voters as individuals...I’m afraid we’ll see partisan politics 24/7, geared towards the elimination of white men’s influence...
‘This farce will end when enough people stand up and say they have had it while throwing down the masks.’
yes, except that strong, grown men are terrified of offending nagging, hectoring females of assorted ages and political stripes in the supermarkets...
‘People just dont want to take this head on and the powers that be know they can jerk the chain at will and there will be a high degree of obedience.’
substitute females for people, and keep the rest of the sentence intact...the distaff among us will determine when and if we get back to a semblance of normalcy...
One of these days; a few thousand Richard Dreyfuss types are going to remove their masks...
Not THIS one!
Get out your phones; for a YouTube moment is HERE!
I’ve said here in Indiana it appears Mrs. Holcomb and Mrs. Box, health commissioner, are that and are running the whipped Governor Eric Holcomb. Very tall but very much a pussy.
“The problem is that this was never about public health.”
MAGA Bump!
75% of people are deficient in vitamin D. Vitamin D works but the LSM and central planners won’t mention it.
This ends when Trump gets rid of Fauci/Birx, in a complimentary why, and brings in someone who knows therapeutics and tells people the truth about the virus, i.e., it’s not going away, a vaccine is not going to eliminate it, but we can treat it. And also someone who can explain to people that it is not a death sentence. That we do not have a 9% mortality/30M dead and that over 99% of those who get live to tell about.
We need to treat it like any other disease, not the super ninja, incurable plague it’s been made out to be. We could panic people about food poisoning to the point they’d stop eating non approved food if were handled like Covid’s been handled by the press.
The ABCCBSNBCMSNBCCNN MEDIA conglomerate only have to keep this up un til November 4th...and a Biden victory!
Then, Covid-19 will simply disappear...
However,, if Trump wins........
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