Turns out that despite my frequent criticisms of the bed-wetters, they actually saved the whole world from dying. I know this because they’ve told me so on Twitter.
I pointed out that we can stop panicking because the despite the rising casedemic, the deaths and hospitalizations in places like New York have plummeted to near-zero. Like this:
That’s because of the lockdowns and the mandatory masks! the bed-wetters informed me. The pandemic is under control in places where the authorities took HARD ACTIONS!
Ahhh, I see. So that means in places that imposed HARD ACTIONS, like lockdowns and mandatory masks, the pandemic is under control, while in places that didn’t impose HARD ACTIONS, the hospitalizations and deaths must still be rising.
Well, Sweden didn’t impose lockdowns or masks. Let’s compare their COVID deaths to Italy and the U.K., which took HARD ACTIONS.
Hmmm, looks like the deaths in Sweden peaked a little later and then plummeted a little later, but the curve is nearly identical … except with fewer deaths per million people at the peak. That would almost suggest lockdowns and masks have little if any effect on how the virus spreads.
There are seven U.S. states that never issued stay-at-home orders. They’re the ones highlighted in yellow below. I also circled South Dakota because the state didn’t close any businesses either. It’s the least bed-wetting of all states. Notice the low death rate (the scale is deaths per 100,000 people).
Oh, yeah, sure! That’s because those states don’t have big cities!
That’s what the bed-wetters told me. Apparently they didn’t do well in social studies classes. Look at the states in the bottom half of the chart. Big cities in those states include Seattle, Portland, St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Oklahoma City.
Population density! We meant population density! the bed-wetters replied. South Dakota only has, like, 12 people per square mile!
The bed-wetters seem to think people in low-population states like South Dakota spread themselves evenly across the land. They don’t. I used to do comedy tours in those western states. You can drive for hundreds of miles and barely spot a house. Then you get to a city with actual people (and a comedy club). I know that’s how it is in those states, but I nonetheless checked the data on a U.S. census site. Here are percentages of the population in several rural/western states who live in what the census bureau labels as urban zones: 90% in Utah, 80% in Oregon, 73% in Nebraska, 70% in Wisconsin, 66% in Oklahoma, 64% in Iowa.
So yes, even in those low-density states, most people live in or near cities. And please refer back to the chart and tell me which BIG CITIES in Mississippi and Rhode Island explain their high death rates.
But you’ve got to look at Florida! Second wave! Second wave! Second wave! They never should have opened up the state in June, because look at the deaths! They should have stuck with HARD ACTION!
Yes, there was a summertime rise in COVID deaths in Florida. But thanks to the videos posted by Ivor Cummins, I’m aware of how the COVID curves are following the curves for seasonal flu outbreaks. So with that in mind, I looked up curves for flu and other respiratory infections for previous years in Florida. Here’s a chart showing the curves for several respiratory infections:
June begins around week 23 most years. So what do we see in this chart? Yup, we see summertime spikes (or a SECOND WAVE! if you prefer) for respiratory infections in Florida. That’s the usual pattern.
Here’s a chart showing visits to a medical provider for flu-like illness in Florida in 2009.
See that big second spike beginning in the summer? Once again, this is normal.
The seasonal flu curves for northern regions and southern regions aren’t the same. Southern regions show a spike in the summer months. That’s why summertime COVID deaths rose in Florida, and it’s why they’re rising in places like Peru and Brazil.
And by the way, Peru took HARD ACTION that was harder than almost any other country … which makes this headline interesting:
The country with the world’s strictest lockdown is now the worst for excess deaths.
Here’s a chart comparing deaths in Peru (world’s strictest lockdown) to deaths in Brazil, which didn’t take the HARD ACTIONS the bed-wetters insist saved the world:
Oh, yeah? Well, if Florida had a summertime rise because it’s in the south, how do you explain the fact that Italy didn’t get a big summertime rise too? Huh? Italy is south, ya know! Huh?
Gee, I’m sorry you didn’t do well in geography classes. Italy is in the south of Europe, yes, but it’s not south as far as the world is concerned. Look at a globe. Italy is at the same latitude as the New England states in America. Rome, for example, is at the same latitude as Providence, Rhode Island. Florida, meanwhile, is at the same latitude as the Western Sahara in Africa. The summertime rise in southern areas isn’t about failure to impose lockdowns. It’s about latitude.
Lockdowns didn’t stop the spread of the virus. Masks won’t stop the spread of the virus (which is why scientists in the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway recommended against mandating them). So why can’t the bed-wetters just admit they were wrong?
Because when one of their Grand Plans fails to fix a problem – or even causes more harm than good – The Anointed never, ever, ever admit the Grand Plan was a bad idea.
As you know, I borrowed the term The Anointed from Thomas Sowell and his book The Vision of the Anointed. In speeches and blog posts, I’ve summarized Dr. Sowell’s description of how The Anointed interpret the failure of a Grand Plan. They always decide that:
- The plan was good, but people didn’t follow it correctly because they’re stupid
- The plan was good, but it was undermined by people because they’re evil
- The plan didn’t go far enough … so we need to do the same thing ONLY BIGGER.
Actually, Dr. Sowell added another interpretation I haven’t mentioned previously:
- Sure, the Grand Plan didn’t fix the problem … but without the Grand Plan, the problem would have been EVEN WORSE!
That’s what the bed-wetters are telling themselves now. One bed-wetter on Twitter recently insisted that without the lockdowns, the coronavirus would have killed 500,000 Americans. All hail the HARD ACTIONS taken by The Anointed for saving us.
And prepare yourself … they may still decide we need to do the same thing again, only bigger.
If you enjoy my posts, please consider a small donation to the Fat Head Kids GoFundMe campaign.
What’s the story behind the two pillars on the Peru graph. Were they just waiting every 2 weeks to report data?
I assume that’s a reporting spike, yes.
There are often delays in processing death certificates, and often a whole bunch get processed at once. If you look at the death stats for America you will notice a dip every weekend. This is because the beaurocrat offices are closed on weekends. It is important to note these are officially recorded death stats. These are not necessarily actual death stats.
One theory about why Sweden had a higher rate of infections and deaths (initially) than their neighbors. “Dry Tinder”…they go on holiday to ski in the Alps. They brought Covid back with them.
https://www.aier.org/article/swedens-high-covid-death-rates-among-the-nordics-dry-tinder-and-other-important-factors/
Sweden also has a large eathaopian community – 20K+ who are likely very deficient in Vitamin D. No one ever mentions that though OR the number of deaths in that community.
Actually, they have been mentioning that all along, especially since many of them work in the nursing homes, but that’s not what this article was about. It was about how the virus may have come in to the country…THEN the Ethiopians with low D levels become susceptible to it.
I’m afraid that the next step if this stpid goes on is,
We must all wear two masks.
Is that anything like wearing two… Never mind, not gonna go there.
People getting COVID in the winter…people indoors where it’s really hot getting COVID…people in quarantine getting COVID…people in nursing homes getting COVID…people in hospitals REALLY getting COVID…it’s almost like this is something spread indoors.
If you recall the school near me, they’re having some of their classes outside on the lawn.
And it’s almost like it will spread, period, no matter what we do.
Since we can’t live outside–correct.
“For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death.”
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Comorbidities
“For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death.”
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Comorbidities
Facebook is removing this link and stories about this by their “fact checkers” as “fake news”. Yep! They are now censoring the very government agency that is setting the guidelines and keeping the statistics!
Bill Gates is getting his money’s worth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUGVp_KgZ_o
This is because a lot of people are misinterpreting this to mean that 94% of deaths never occurred and that it “proves” the whole thing a hoax. It is very important to get the facts right and to understand exactly what is being said. What the CDC is saying is what those of us who are paying attention have known all along. More than 90% of COVID deaths involve co-morbitities.
The more our side misinterprets the facts, the easier it is to dismiss us.
Denmark implemented mandatory masks on public transport 22nd July
Absolutely no difference in number of infected – on the contrary a few more but only cos more tests
T he information on the masks is INVALID for the following reason:
Bare viruses are never expelled from the respiratory system. Instead, viruses are ALWAYS found in droplets that are many times as large. Masks trap the droplets, not individual viruses.
Sources:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/11/fact-check-n-95-filters-not-too-large-stop-covid-19-particles/5343537002/
The COVID-19 particle is indeed around 0.1 microns in size, but it is always bonded to something larger.
“There is never a naked virus floating in the air or released by people,” said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech who specializes in airborne transmission of viruses.
The virus attaches to water droplets or aerosols (i.e. really small droplets) that are generated by breathing, talking, coughing, etc. These consist of water, mucus protein and other biological material and are all larger than 1 micron.
“Breathing and talking generate particles around 1 micron in size, which will be collected by N95 respirator filters with very high efficiency,” said Lisa Brosseau, a retired professor of environmental and occupational health sciences who spent her career researching respiratory protection.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30323-4/fulltext
I’ve seen plenty of doctors say otherwise about how the virus is expelled. If masks were effective, we’d see lower infection rates in areas that mandated masks. We don’t. Scientists in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden announced that masks are ineffective … although they probably didn’t read USA Today.
Even if masks do stop the virus somewhat, that would only apply to symptomatic people. Governments are forcing masks on people with no symptoms at all. There’s a simple solution to this whole debate: those of you who feel threatened by people not wearing masks can avoid going places where people don’t wear masks.
Here is a link to an article summarising a whole bunch of articles from science journals about face masks. I haven’t read them myself (Its on the todo list), but I post it in case you or your readers want to check it out.
https://www.technocracy.news/masks-are-neither-effective-nor-safe-a-summary-of-the-science/
My guess is that the problem people have is not anything you’re saying or how you’re saying it. I’ll do my best to use the analogy of defending eating meat to attempt to explain what I think is happening. Because nearly the entire world has bought into the idea that veganism is the most healthy way to eat, the only people left defending meat are the small set of people who have scrutinized the science, and the probably larger set of people who just want to believe that meat isn’t unhealthy, because they don’t want to stop eating it. Both of them happen to have the likely-correct idea, but the one that is louder is more likely to sound unintelligent in their defense is not the science-minded group. This makes it very easy for people with the opposite belief to dismiss any credible science and logic. Regardless of whether or not the science is sound, the most vocal anti-mask/anti-lockdown people aren’t arguing using science, they just simply “don’t wanna do it”.
I’ve seen plenty arguing the science, but yes, I’ve also seen “don’t wanna do it.”
Then there are those of us, like me, who are both.
“Don’t want to do it” is a perfectly valid reason. Wearing sweaty panties over one’s face & reinhaling CO2-laden respiratory waste is a freedom issue, and that should always be the top priority. To paraphrase Rand Paul, the government does not get to suspend the Constitution just because it waves around a doctor’s note.
Unfortunately our citizens seem to understand the importance of principles like this less and less as time goes on. We often blame the government for everything, but it takes a passive, submissive, apathetic, unquestioning populace of sheeple to allow the govt to abuse its power.
Seems most people want to lay low, believing the problem will just go away or that someone else will handle it. Better wake up before it’s too late
The vision of the annointed can be seen in Victoria. First there was a sate of emergency, which didn’t work. Then there was a sate of disaster, which didn’t work. Now Comrade Dan has secured his dictatorship for another six months, and all along he blames anybody and everybody, except himself.
In a blatant example of the Anointed’s hypocrisy, Nancy Antoinette “Let them eat ice cream” Pelosi got caught at a hair salon that was closed based on rules she supported. And she wasn’t wearing a mask. And she has the gall to demand an apology. Funny how they can’t follow their own policies.
Two questions:
1 Who has the right to decide who is served in a hair stylist shop, the customer or the stylist/store owner?
2. Why did the store owner video the styling if they thought it was legal?
I am reminded of the episode of The Simpsons where Homer, on being told that it is lawful to use force against an intruder, invites Flanders into his house, the DOH moment coming when Chief Wiggum remarks that it doesn’t work if you invite them in.
But of course logic and reason went out of the window in politics on both sides of the pond in 2016.
The store owner has the video recording all the time, which makes sense if you’re worried someone might break into your shop while you’re away.
She’s the latest, and joins Lori Lightfoot, Gretchen Whitmer’s husband, Neil Ferguson and Chris Cuomo (probably others), caught doing the lockdown dodge.
King Murphy of NJ got caught in a diner that has opened “illegally” for indoor dining, prompting him to open them up statewide 2 days later (Sorry all you can eat Chinese buffets and salad bars — you’re still dangerous).
Then Mayor Kenney of Philadelphia was caught eating indoors at a friend’s restaurant in Maryland — without a mask. He apologized to the peons of Philly but still has not opened up city restaurants for indoor dining despite the fact that the rest of the Commonwealth has done so.
What, they didn’t claim they were set up?
Surprisingly, no, but Mayor Kenney DID blame Trump for the lack of crab meat in his crab cakes.
Apparently there are only 1,200 active cases in Davidson county (and maybe far fewer, as they’re changing how they count active cases). In a city of 700k. And public schools still are not open. The teachers I know are terrified of going back, thinking my 5 year old is going to be the death of them despite all the evidence we have that young children rarely spread the virus to adults or other children. I’m so tired of the hysteria. I even switched our synagogue membership over the issue. I am not a fan of pausing life indefinitely and cowering in fear. Now they’re talking about cancelling Halloween? Why not cancel Thanksgiving preemptively too? Let’s just never see each other or celebrate anything ever again. Too dangerous!
Once the hysteria gets started, it seems there’s no stopping it.
Tom, I just came across this last night.
If your daughter is off to college, you might need to be fully aware of what may be in store:
https://jordanschachtel.substack.com/p/tales-from-americas-covid-college
She’s aware. She’s limiting herself to colleges are currently open for classroom teaching to avoid the bed-wetters and fascists.
Why would they cancel Halloween? Everyone already has a mask.
Brainwashing the kids into wearing masks, then selling them crappy processed food for lunch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o07fIi6Trac
“Sure, the Grand Plan didn’t fix the problem … but without the Grand Plan, the problem would have been EVEN WORSE!”
Exactly what’s happening in Victoria Australia. Lockdown extended til end of September. restaurants/Retail back only in November or some garbage like that/.
businesses in despair, leftie luvvies posting caring messages to the premier who’s responsible for all this mess.
It’s appalling.
I wish there were more experts like Nobel prize winner Michael Levitt (@MLevitt_NP2013). He made a big prediction about the US death toll from COVID-19. He got it wrong, and to his enormous credit, he pinned his bad prediction to the top of his Twitter feed, and has been very forthcoming about why he got it wrong. The bed-wetters could learn much from him — but I doubt that they will.
Meanwhile, in the Great White North 🇨🇦 where I live, the 7-day average of COVID-19 deaths has dropped to 2.9 per day. Since late June, the statistical relationship between new cases and new deaths has become slightly negative: the more cases, the fewer deaths. Somehow that isn’t making it on to the news.
Hi Tom, I’ve been reading your posts, as well as mainstream media, and frankly, I don’t know what to think or who to believe. You’ve done a lot of posting about statistics and data at the macro level but what is your position on the micro or individual level? Individuals should not be wearing masks, and should go about normal activities at normal distances, with normal washing and sanitizing procedures? What are you doing (if anything) to protect yourself and your family? I believe your oldest daughter is going off to college? Do you have any concerns about her getting Covid-19 in those densely populated (indoor) classrooms and dorms? Do you think your position would change if you lived in a crowded city, rather than on a farmette with plenty of room and small population density? I was wondering what your take on this is? https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/coronavirus-cases-tied-to-a-maine-wedding-reception-hit-147-with-3-deaths/19273954/. Is your opinion to hold the wedding, and let the chips (bodies) fall where they may?
Stories like the one linked are hogwash. They don’t know if the people who attended the wedding picked up the virus there or somewhere else. It’s a new technique the bed-wetters are using: test people who were at some event, then blame every positive test on the event.
I’m not in the least worried about Sara going off to college, and neither is she. The odds of her contracting the virus in a school and suffering any real consequences are so vanishingly low, they’re not worth considering. She’s far more likely to be killed driving to school.
Yes, I believe everyone outside of the truly vulnerable people (elderly, already ill, etc.) should be going about normal activities. The truly vulnerable people are at risk every year from flu and pneumonia, so they should be cautious in any year, not just this one. The rest of us should accept that the virus will spread, and for the vast majority of us, it’s no more dangerous than an ordinary flu virus — in fact, for young people, the death rate is actually lower than for an ordinary flu virus.
So, I have a question. Who is benefitting from these lockdowns and mask mandates? Is it just democrats looking to be elected? I honestly can’t understand why so many people around me have completely bought into this hysteria and seem to be desperate for it to continue. Is it because people like working from home? It just doesn’t make any sense to me.
I am desperate for life to go back to normal. I am tired of wearing a mask in order to go anywhere. I hate putting a mask on my 4 year old. But, clearly, someone is profiting, big time, from these ridiculous mandates. Who are these people?
Maybe if we could make it clear who is profiting from this and why more people would see that what we are doing isn’t based on science at all.
I wish I had an answer.