I was in Tokyo this morning. On the very crowded sky train basically everybody wore face masks, but they seemed oddly unconcerned that I didn't. Perhaps they're thinking it's better to just get on with it
Countries in Africa that never locked down have no excess mortality. European countries with soft lockdowns have no fewer deaths than those with strict lockdowns. Lockdowns do not correlate with mortality.
What do you see in Bejing that cannot be explained as a psychological phenomenon?
Are you aware of other cases where millions of people in a city have all at once fallen ill with 39C+ degree fevers which were determined to have psychological causes?
Given the European experience, I can understand where you are coming from. However, the Chinese experience has been very different.
These are not claims being promoted by official media. The official media are not directly reporting on this at all, though the medical establishment has stated that case numbers in China are likely to peak this month. It is the reality on the ground. According to the official numbers, today Beijing reported about 1000 new cases. 2, 3 or even 4 million would likely be more accurate.
I know scores of people personally in Beijing and other Chinese cities who have fallen sick. The thermometers don't lie, but even if they did, most people don't need a thermometer to know when they have a fever.
It seems to me that we should not be surprised that the experience in Europe was quite different. For one thing, to my knowledge most European governments were actively promoting fear of the killer virus. Both case numbers and deaths attributable to Covid-19 were grossly exaggerated. China did promote the fear to an extent, but did not exaggerate case or death numbers.
Moreover, in Europe there was never any effort to stop the spread which was even remotely comparable to what was attempted in China. In Europe and the US the "virus" seems to have spread fairly "naturally". Bit by bit people were infected, built up antibodies etc.
In China by contrast, regardless of whether or not it made sense, it cannot be denied that the measures taken by the Chinese government to stop the spread really did work. Yes, I know that in many Western dissident circles it is fashionable to say that "lockdowns don't work", "PCR tests are useless" etc. In Europe these may well be accurate conclusions, but in China they aren't. The lockdowns and endless PCR testing in China did "work" in the sense that they effectively slowed the spread. The problem is not that these measures don't work. The problem is (a) that they are contrary to the values of a prosperous liberal society, (b) that in the medium term they not economically sustainable, and (c) that they represent a challenge to nature which is destined to fail. Moreover, not only are they destined to fail, but when they DO finally fail, as we are witnessing now, the price is a mass wave of infections impacting everyone all at once. AFAIK no other country ever experienced anything comparable.
Covid was very strange. Our hospitals were never busy; in fact we closed 5 hospitals and 25 intensive care departments in 2020. Covid was supposed to be unknown, but every government responded in the same way. Media showed global consensus on which views were acceptable. The PCR test is applied in a very unusual way: it tests for unusually small sequences, and is applied with different cycle counts and match counts.
Other than in March 2020, deaths did not "spike" in China. After a spate of initial deaths in February and early March of 2020, China had very few deaths. Since May 2020 there have been almost none.
Not sure what you mean by a "measurable phenomenon." It seems to me that we don't need to know what is actually happening in detail to recognize that transmission is taking place. Ample data also demonstrates that no mask is able to stop this transmission.
As to the sickness itself, whatever is causing it (virus or whatever) is certainly highly transmissible. Moreover, this "something" can be fairly reliably identified at some cycle level by the two genetic snippets which the PCR tests in use are targeting. The current variant which is spreading at lightning speed throughout China (thus far except for Shanghai) is extremely infectious and has led to huge lines at hospitals. Last I heard people typically had to wait for 6 hours or more. Meanwhile the government is imploring everyone to please NOT go to the overwhelmed hospitals. Still though, AFAIK no-one is dying; probably most of them are hoping to go on the drip to bring down their fever.
Interesting, thanks! Except for an initial spike in care homes, the Netherlands did not have excess deaths for 2020. There are 10-20% excess deaths since the start of the vaccination campaign.
In The Netherlands, the government refuses to publish the PCR parameters used. But lab instructions confirm that the PCR parameters varied over time, including use of different cycle counts for unvaccinated people.
A contagious disease spreads in waves; it doesn't respect borders; it has unique symptoms. Covid has none of these properties.
I was in Tokyo this morning. On the very crowded sky train basically everybody wore face masks, but they seemed oddly unconcerned that I didn't. Perhaps they're thinking it's better to just get on with it
Countries in Africa that never locked down have no excess mortality. European countries with soft lockdowns have no fewer deaths than those with strict lockdowns. Lockdowns do not correlate with mortality.
What do you see in Bejing that cannot be explained as a psychological phenomenon?
Are you aware of other cases where millions of people in a city have all at once fallen ill with 39C+ degree fevers which were determined to have psychological causes?
When like claims were made about a fever sweeping through The Netherlands, I visited a hospital and an undertaker and found them very quiet.
Given the European experience, I can understand where you are coming from. However, the Chinese experience has been very different.
These are not claims being promoted by official media. The official media are not directly reporting on this at all, though the medical establishment has stated that case numbers in China are likely to peak this month. It is the reality on the ground. According to the official numbers, today Beijing reported about 1000 new cases. 2, 3 or even 4 million would likely be more accurate.
I know scores of people personally in Beijing and other Chinese cities who have fallen sick. The thermometers don't lie, but even if they did, most people don't need a thermometer to know when they have a fever.
It seems to me that we should not be surprised that the experience in Europe was quite different. For one thing, to my knowledge most European governments were actively promoting fear of the killer virus. Both case numbers and deaths attributable to Covid-19 were grossly exaggerated. China did promote the fear to an extent, but did not exaggerate case or death numbers.
Moreover, in Europe there was never any effort to stop the spread which was even remotely comparable to what was attempted in China. In Europe and the US the "virus" seems to have spread fairly "naturally". Bit by bit people were infected, built up antibodies etc.
In China by contrast, regardless of whether or not it made sense, it cannot be denied that the measures taken by the Chinese government to stop the spread really did work. Yes, I know that in many Western dissident circles it is fashionable to say that "lockdowns don't work", "PCR tests are useless" etc. In Europe these may well be accurate conclusions, but in China they aren't. The lockdowns and endless PCR testing in China did "work" in the sense that they effectively slowed the spread. The problem is not that these measures don't work. The problem is (a) that they are contrary to the values of a prosperous liberal society, (b) that in the medium term they not economically sustainable, and (c) that they represent a challenge to nature which is destined to fail. Moreover, not only are they destined to fail, but when they DO finally fail, as we are witnessing now, the price is a mass wave of infections impacting everyone all at once. AFAIK no other country ever experienced anything comparable.
Covid was very strange. Our hospitals were never busy; in fact we closed 5 hospitals and 25 intensive care departments in 2020. Covid was supposed to be unknown, but every government responded in the same way. Media showed global consensus on which views were acceptable. The PCR test is applied in a very unusual way: it tests for unusually small sequences, and is applied with different cycle counts and match counts.
Deaths spiked worldwide after a WHO announcement. This cannot be explained by a transmittable disease. The Covid deaths follow a jurisdictional pattern, something no virus can do. Lockdown severity does not correlate with death numbers: https://denisrancourt.ca/entries.php?id=115&name=2022_07_09_evaluating_the_effect_of_lockdowns_on_all_cause_mortality_during_the_covid_era_lockdowns_did_not_save_lives
The virus so far does not appear to be a measurable phenomenon. I wonder if the Chinese experience contradicts that thesis.
Other than in March 2020, deaths did not "spike" in China. After a spate of initial deaths in February and early March of 2020, China had very few deaths. Since May 2020 there have been almost none.
Not sure what you mean by a "measurable phenomenon." It seems to me that we don't need to know what is actually happening in detail to recognize that transmission is taking place. Ample data also demonstrates that no mask is able to stop this transmission.
As to the sickness itself, whatever is causing it (virus or whatever) is certainly highly transmissible. Moreover, this "something" can be fairly reliably identified at some cycle level by the two genetic snippets which the PCR tests in use are targeting. The current variant which is spreading at lightning speed throughout China (thus far except for Shanghai) is extremely infectious and has led to huge lines at hospitals. Last I heard people typically had to wait for 6 hours or more. Meanwhile the government is imploring everyone to please NOT go to the overwhelmed hospitals. Still though, AFAIK no-one is dying; probably most of them are hoping to go on the drip to bring down their fever.
Interesting, thanks! Except for an initial spike in care homes, the Netherlands did not have excess deaths for 2020. There are 10-20% excess deaths since the start of the vaccination campaign.
In The Netherlands, the government refuses to publish the PCR parameters used. But lab instructions confirm that the PCR parameters varied over time, including use of different cycle counts for unvaccinated people.
A contagious disease spreads in waves; it doesn't respect borders; it has unique symptoms. Covid has none of these properties.
when you turn on a dime you can probably expect to lose your balance