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Five years on: The countries that never locked down for Covid-19
BBC ^ | 3/5/25 | Chris Baraniuk

Posted on 03/07/2025 8:46:35 AM PST by DallasBiff

Most of the world found itself confined to their homes in March 2020 as Covid-19 spread at a blistering pace. Some countries didn't impose any lockdown restrictions – so was their decision the right one?

In March 2020, billions of people stared out through their windows at a world they no longer recognised. Suddenly confined to their homes, their lives had shrunk abruptly to four walls and computer screens.

Around the world, national leaders appeared on television, telling them to stay put – only leave the house to buy essential supplies or for once-daily exercise, maybe. It was a last-ditch attempt to curb the spread of a terrifying virus that had already killed many thousands of people worldwide.

In London, theatre worker Tony Beckingham and his partner decided to use their daily exercise to cycle into the centre of the city one evening. "We thought it'd be really fun to see no-one around," he says. It wasn't. Places the pair knew well, like Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, perennially abuzz with people, were chillingly quiet. "It was really upsetting – instantly," says Beckingham.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine; History
KEYWORDS: chinavirus; chinaviruslockdown; countries; covid; covidlockdown; fauci; mandates; masks; tyranny; wuhan
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To: Uncle Miltie

“Except I wore a mask UNDER my nose so idiots wouldn’t yell at me. Performative, not effective.”

same here ... except i wore mine under my nose so i could breath ... and it seemed to satisfy the fascist orders of our governor fudge-packer well enough that all the little fascists that were forcibly enrolled to enforce his fascist edict ignored said ill-fitting mask wearing ...

when gov fudge-packer finally had enough of the economic, educational and social destruction and refused to renew his fascist order a third time, a few individual counties tried to take up the cudgel locally, but even though they issued all kinds of “thou shalt” mask edicts, and the local fake “news” media tried to perpetuate said “that shalts”, the retail corporations knew that such edicts had zero force of law without a State emergency order, so when myself and a VERY FEW other brave souls instantly stopped wearing masks all together, there were zero repercussions from retail establishments ... we tried to explain all of this to our conservative brethren, but sadly, even they were too timid to buck the illegal orders and possible social scorn ...


21 posted on 03/07/2025 9:14:42 AM PST by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Like you, I was expecting some worry-free cycling on the scenic bike trail close by where I live, but the local poobahs directed the cops to put police line tape across the entrance to all the parking lots and trailheads.

I parked on the side of the road a couple of times being a lowly scofflaw, but was concerned that I might come back to no car or a serious ticket, so I stopped.

It was getting silly — people stopped riding together or even following another rider because that virus might fly off and get ya. I still can’t believe people wore masks while riding!


22 posted on 03/07/2025 9:16:18 AM PST by Not_Who_U_Think (`-)
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

“When I absolutely had to wear a mask, as in doctors’ offices, I’d take one of those blue masks and cut out the two white layers inside. It still looked like a mask, and I could sort of breathe through it. “

Daum! I never thought of doing that!


23 posted on 03/07/2025 9:16:55 AM PST by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
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To: DallasBiff

5 years ago that Wuhan/Covid hysteria was growing exponentially, led by Fauci.

My wife was due for a hip replacement,and her surgery
was scheduled in the following weeks. Due to Fauci, that surgery was delayed for months to a year.

We feel that her delays due to Fauci’s thugs, set back her postup healing for a year+. Some relatives and friends died after delaying surgery or cancer treatments.


24 posted on 03/07/2025 9:18:49 AM PST by Grampa Dave (If history teaches us anything: It's that history rarely teaches us anything! (outofsalt))
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To: Col Frank Slade

Not insanity.

Evil.


25 posted on 03/07/2025 9:19:19 AM PST by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
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To: Soul of the South
How many of the excess deaths around the world since 2021 are attributable to the Covid vaccines that many people were mandated or strong armed to take against their will?

Not sure of that number, but even Dr Bricks told us that the actual CV deaths were more like 6% of those claimed by the CDC.

They used to have separate pneumonia and influenza stats, then it became PI, then that went to zero. (Hmmmm?) Now it's PIC which includes "covid".

CDC...lying pieces of shiite. Defund, sue and shutter.

26 posted on 03/07/2025 9:19:23 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves Month")
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To: DallasBiff

I’d like to see a cancer rate comparison between the countries.


27 posted on 03/07/2025 9:21:44 AM PST by dljordan
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To: DallasBiff

I use the stupidity and sheeple compliance of covid to know we are doomed as a society. Nothing Trump, et al., is doing right now matters in the slightest. People love liberalism and will demand it back.


28 posted on 03/07/2025 9:26:17 AM PST by CodeToad ( )
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To: rarestia
Spot on. Same experience, although there were times where it got real dicey for me.

This in AZ, so I started carrying "OWB" (AZ is a constitutional carry state).

My troubling encounters went away. It got much better. I still won't ever forget though.

29 posted on 03/07/2025 9:35:07 AM PST by Tommy Revolts
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To: mewzilla
"Not insanity. Evil."

Indeed. Early during the plandemic, I had to physically go to a bank to transact some business, knowing they would have ridiculous social distancing rules in effect.

When I pulled into the bank lot and parked my car, I put my mask on and it occurred to me that only a month before, if anybody had seen me drive into a bank parking lot and putting on a mask before exiting my vehicle, they would have called the police.

By the end of March 2020, it would have been far more likely that somebody called the cops on me for not putting a mask on.

It was not a disruption of, or deviation from normalcy. It was complete inversion of it, and that's when I knew this was part of an evil machination and not just some virus and/or overreaction on the part of public health officers.

30 posted on 03/07/2025 9:41:19 AM PST by Joe 6-pack
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To: DallasBiff; Sicon; marktwain; The Unknown Republican; Soul of the South; Resolute Conservative
“Some economists have combined similar data with comparisons of economic performance indicators between the same four Nordic countries to argue that, overall, Sweden's approach was justified due to the relatively low economic costs. But such arguments are controversial and the lack of a lockdown in Sweden remains an area for heated debate among some.”

This is such nonsense. I had been tracking this virus using the John Hopkins site for about two years using an Excel spreadsheet. The Scandinavian countries, and particularly Sweden, did not disturb their population to near the extend the US did. As of February 22, 2023, virus deaths per million for the megalopolis found in the combined states of Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut was twice that of Sweden, which has a similar disproportion in population makeup between urban and rural. For all of the US it is 41% less. You could verify this information by using the John Hopkin’s site and latest population figures, but it is probably gone now.

31 posted on 03/07/2025 9:43:55 AM PST by Retain Mike ( Sat Cong)
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To: The Unknown Republican

The downside is we got inundated with people from Washington State. Our little Hayden Lake never had so many boats!

At this moment, I’m sitting my doctor’s waiting room in Palo Alto, CA. We still have mask requirements here! They keep telling me “Masks are required” and I keep saying “That’s nice”


32 posted on 03/07/2025 9:53:23 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Democrats who say ‘no one is above the law’ won’t mind going to prison for the money they stole)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

I’m so glad I got out of the Bay Area. We are now up in Boundary since Kootenai is turning into little California.


33 posted on 03/07/2025 9:55:42 AM PST by The Unknown Republican
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To: Not_Who_U_Think

I was hiking down a mountain trail and a Chinese mom and her three year old boy were coming up. She and her son moved to the canyon side of the trail, right on the edge, and faced away from me! They had a ten million times higher risk of falling into the canyon than catching a virus on a trail in bright sunshine and a breeze by passing a stranger for a tenth of a second.

I studied how people assess risk in a Game Theory class in 1980. I got to see what I studied in real life! People cannot assess relative risks .


34 posted on 03/07/2025 9:58:53 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Democrats who say ‘no one is above the law’ won’t mind going to prison for the money they stole)
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To: DallasBiff
COVID Dinner Discussion - SNL
35 posted on 03/07/2025 10:00:03 AM PST by yesthatjallen
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To: DallasBiff

bookmark


36 posted on 03/07/2025 10:00:40 AM PST by simpson96
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To: The Unknown Republican

The Director of the clinic just. Same in and read me the mask riot act! The doc won’t see me without a mask! It’s a “county mandate” — FIVE YEARS ON!

Utter insanity


37 posted on 03/07/2025 10:04:09 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Democrats who say ‘no one is above the law’ won’t mind going to prison for the money they stole)
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To: The Unknown Republican

“Kootenai is turning into little California.”

Not only that, traffic is WORSE than the San Fran Peninsula!


38 posted on 03/07/2025 10:08:46 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Democrats who say ‘no one is above the law’ won’t mind going to prison for the money they stole)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Way too many people came during Covid. As a microcosm of the problem with unchecked immigration, those Californians that came en masse did not assimilate and are just overwhelming the local culture. L.A. drivers gotta drive like they are in L.A. apparently.


39 posted on 03/07/2025 10:10:49 AM PST by The Unknown Republican
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To: Soul of the South

Today’s ventilators have safer Software that uses the minimum pressure to get air flow. My belief—without evidence— is that doctors had to use what they had available and the results (dead patients) led inventors to develop these modern machines. I am on a ventilator every night with AVAPS Assured Volume Assisted Pressure Support


40 posted on 03/07/2025 10:29:21 AM PST by KC_for_Freedom (retired aerospace engineer and CSP who also taught)
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