Despite the serious subject, your post made me laugh about the little mistakes that make us all so very human. Sorry Twitter has dumped you again but it’s their loss. Please keep telling the truth to those of us hungry to hear it. Have a relaxing weekend. Take time to enjoy your family. PS. I loved when you called Tucker “Twitter” 😂
Can’t wait for your piece on Vaccine vs natural immunity. I just chuckle when I read about how the unvaccinated are spreading Covid. I might have believed it at one time, but in the last 3 weeks I know of personally 10 people who are vaccinated that are sick and some of them very sick with Covid. I only know a couple of unvaccinated that got sick. The symptoms and severity was about the same. So much for the vaccine preventing Covid. In fact in two cases the Vaccinated got sick first and gave it to the unvaccinated.
I saw the piece last night and I did not think you meant your daughter got a Covid vax, I just got the impression you were signaling that your family is not anti-vax or not forgoing all vaccines. The over-reaching Pandemia folks are trying to label anyone with common sense as anti-vax wackos.
The number of shots your daughter received today, that my own young son has received in a single doctor’s visit, is more doses/shots than my father got from birth til Vietnam.
Thanks for keeping us posted. With all the resurgence of mask mandates, it would be very helpful if you could re-issue and update the research data on mask effectiveness. Although we are beginning to see some questions on the vaccine effectiveness in the media, I haven't seen a word about masks simply not working to prevent the virus. There's a little bit about the damaging effects of mask wearing, at least on conservative media, but no one is addressing the central question of whether a mask even stops the virus to begin with. I really appreciate everything you were doing to try to bring truth to peoples attention.
My son’s school (Michigan State) just mandated vaccines for all students, faculty and staff. My son had covid and has natural immunity. I feel so helpless. He’s so excited to go but does not need nor want the vaccine. I do not see how a university (with a medical doctor for a president!) can do this in good conscience! Which of course I realize is not what we’re dealing with here.
What would have happened if we had never locked down? We don't have to guess. Sweden serves as an example.
Recall a year ago, all the pundits were mocking Sweden for their no-lockdown approach. You haven't heard them mentioned in the news lately, have you? That should tip you off right there.
An excerpt: Sweden, of course, was maligned in 2020 for foregoing a strict lockdown. The Guardian called its approach “a catastrophe” in the making, while CBS News said Sweden had become “an example of how not to handle COVID-19.”
I consider deaths/million population as the key numbers, and list them in parentheses. A year ago Sweden did indeed look kind of of scary - 8th worst of all countries (568). The only developed countries with worse numbers were Italy (581), UK (608), and Spain (608).
Six months ago, Sweden had dropped to 23rd place (1270), behind France, (1281), Lichtenstein (1415), Spain (1479), Hungary (1550), US (1555), Portugal (1600), Italy (1616),UK (1813), and Belgium (1904).
Today, Sweden is in 42nd place (1451). Following are France (1658), Portugal (1701), Spain (1743), US (1852), UK (1913), Poland (1988), Italy (2118), Belgium (2178), and Hungary (3108).
Sweden's situation is improving over time. Many of the other nations that have moved up the bad list have had extreme lockdowns. What was their pay-off?
Explain it to me again - why do the brilliant people making government policy think more lockdowns are the solution?
was so confused at first by how your link drops into 2020 - it didn't match my calculations at all, haha.
Yeah, deaths per pop is what I use to compare different places. Case count graphs can be very misleading (like how Sweden's looks "lower" just because updates were more sporadic; but otherwise every graph is just arbitrarily sliding the y scale so that the biggest wave(s) go to the top).
Accounts of the degree to which Sweden was really in a "pseudo-lockdown" vary a bit, so I hesitate to assert too strongly what can be concluded from their example. But my instinct is that by diving into the first wave they avoided creating a natural coronavirus immunity debt like the West did and so they weren't trapped into a (moderately) viscous cycle; same as rural vs urban US.
But now that half the population has gotten itself Covid vaccinated they might have thrown themselves into the cycle - and if post-vaccination breakout infections start to lead to more severe outcomes than natural infection, the temptation for Sweden to get trapped in the lockdown and booster cycles will be pretty strong.
One other thing, I do appreciate you have thought about patterns over time, and have a theory about the first wave.
My theory is, (this is a rough approximation) the virus is eventually going to kill a certain number of people in each area. That number will vary from area to area b/c of variations in underlying factors, a key one being, how healthy is the population. Some areas (maybe Sweden) got started sooner b/c the virus was introduced there sooner. In any area, the deaths per capita will eventually peak and then decline due to herd immunity.
Other areas may in the early stages show better statistics b/c the virus got a later start. Eventually they will catch up with the areas that had the early start.
If the vaccine was really effective, it may have been worth the effort to slow the infections down with lockdowns. If I understand Berenson's most recent information correctly, the vaccines do show some effectiveness- but only temporarily. Then they have to be repeated. The info on the adverse effect is not really clear.
Bottom line - these countries that did the extreme lockdowns imposed a lot of suffering, but didn't get the benefit. I can understand, there's a lot they didn't know six months or a year ago. I can't really blame them for doing what they did.
I can blame them if the keep doing it with the information now available.
I used that website as the data source b/c it's the only one I found that would provide historical data.
If it dropped into 2020 when you opened it, I'm guessing it's b/c my last draw of data from the site was 7/31/20. I didn't think to reset it before copying and pasting the link. You're were able to figure it out, right? I would have.
You're right, the updates are sporadic. What I presented was looking at three points- today, 6 months ago, and a year ago. You're not saying the sporadic nature of data altered what I claimed in any meaningful way, are you?
I do agree, Sweden has gone through varying degrees of lockdown. I don't keep up with what goes on there day-to-day. I am aware the health authorities at one point were seriously reconsidering lockdowns, but I don't think they did it.
There's no denying, there's a VAST difference between Sweden and the rest of Europe. I have friends and relatives in Europe. The police in Austria knocked on the door multiple times to check that my sister-in-law was in fact locking down- even after she had passed the two-week (or whatever it was) requirement. A friend in Spain said she saw the police beating the shit out of some guy who wasn't complying with the lockdown.
I'm not really sure what the point of your post was. Just to put a cap on it, do you think what I presented was misleading? Or worse, false?
"Sporadic" refers to how Sweden looks on case count graphs, for example the one generated when you google "Sweden Covid stats." The point was just that case count recording is very spotty and so I agree that looking at deaths per pop is a far better approach.
The point was that so long as Sweden is the *only* control in Europe for the horrible lockdown experiment, it is too bad it was not *far* more fully open, and double too-bad that they have now mixed vaccination into their set of confounding factors.
"Only" European control besides Belarus I think, whose stats are not trustworthy (though as with Sweden I would guess they really did do quite better thanks to not locking down).
On first hearing your Tucker interview, my mouth dropped open. I think Tucker interpreted your comments the same way. I backed it up and heard you correctly! Don’t you hate it when you have to send two emails to a group! People are so sensitive about their email traffic. Keep telling the truth Alex, no matter how many clarifications you send!
My family’s Token Liberal Lawyer (triple whammy) sent a group text to all of us linking to the CNBC reporting of the “dreaded” Massachusetts outbreak. Applying critical thinking is a lost skill. I typed a reply with the missing elements of fact in their story…..then I erased it and hit shift/delete. My first instinctual reply was “Masks don’t work” and I am not wearing a effing MASK”. Deleted those too. Fear mongering is not a list skill. In my liberal guys defense, he is legitimately terrified!
Despite the serious subject, your post made me laugh about the little mistakes that make us all so very human. Sorry Twitter has dumped you again but it’s their loss. Please keep telling the truth to those of us hungry to hear it. Have a relaxing weekend. Take time to enjoy your family. PS. I loved when you called Tucker “Twitter” 😂
Thanks for all you are doing Alex. We are entering possibly the most frightening times humanity has ever seen.
Can’t wait for your piece on Vaccine vs natural immunity. I just chuckle when I read about how the unvaccinated are spreading Covid. I might have believed it at one time, but in the last 3 weeks I know of personally 10 people who are vaccinated that are sick and some of them very sick with Covid. I only know a couple of unvaccinated that got sick. The symptoms and severity was about the same. So much for the vaccine preventing Covid. In fact in two cases the Vaccinated got sick first and gave it to the unvaccinated.
How about putting all your Tweets (or things you would tweet) on Substack so I never have to open my Twitter app again.
I saw the piece last night and I did not think you meant your daughter got a Covid vax, I just got the impression you were signaling that your family is not anti-vax or not forgoing all vaccines. The over-reaching Pandemia folks are trying to label anyone with common sense as anti-vax wackos.
Me too.
The number of shots your daughter received today, that my own young son has received in a single doctor’s visit, is more doses/shots than my father got from birth til Vietnam.
Thanks for keeping us posted. With all the resurgence of mask mandates, it would be very helpful if you could re-issue and update the research data on mask effectiveness. Although we are beginning to see some questions on the vaccine effectiveness in the media, I haven't seen a word about masks simply not working to prevent the virus. There's a little bit about the damaging effects of mask wearing, at least on conservative media, but no one is addressing the central question of whether a mask even stops the virus to begin with. I really appreciate everything you were doing to try to bring truth to peoples attention.
Alex - would u consider going on telegram also??
Take a moment and read this about Sweden. They are the control group in this worldwide experiment.
And the results are quite clear.
https://www.biznews.com/health/2021/07/26/sweden-covid#
Good damn link. Much Thanks.
Thank you for taking the trouble to share this with us.
Alex, what you're doing is heroic. Thanks. And keep it up.
My son’s school (Michigan State) just mandated vaccines for all students, faculty and staff. My son had covid and has natural immunity. I feel so helpless. He’s so excited to go but does not need nor want the vaccine. I do not see how a university (with a medical doctor for a president!) can do this in good conscience! Which of course I realize is not what we’re dealing with here.
My hero!!! Keep it up..we need you!
I’m glad to hear it , I was a bit startled ! I felt you were a bit rattled by Twitter again ! I too liked it when you called Tucker , Twitter .
What would have happened if we had never locked down? We don't have to guess. Sweden serves as an example.
Recall a year ago, all the pundits were mocking Sweden for their no-lockdown approach. You haven't heard them mentioned in the news lately, have you? That should tip you off right there.
This story from an obscure media source tells us something: Daily COVID Deaths in Sweden Hit Zero, as Other Nations Brace for More Lockdowns https://fee.org/articles/daily-covid-deaths-in-sweden-hit-zero-as-other-nations-brace-for-more-lockdowns/
An excerpt: Sweden, of course, was maligned in 2020 for foregoing a strict lockdown. The Guardian called its approach “a catastrophe” in the making, while CBS News said Sweden had become “an example of how not to handle COVID-19.”
I did some spreadsheet abuse on the numbers. The source data is in https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/rate-confirmed-cases-vs-rate-confirmed-deaths?tab=table&time=2020-07-31
I consider deaths/million population as the key numbers, and list them in parentheses. A year ago Sweden did indeed look kind of of scary - 8th worst of all countries (568). The only developed countries with worse numbers were Italy (581), UK (608), and Spain (608).
Six months ago, Sweden had dropped to 23rd place (1270), behind France, (1281), Lichtenstein (1415), Spain (1479), Hungary (1550), US (1555), Portugal (1600), Italy (1616),UK (1813), and Belgium (1904).
Today, Sweden is in 42nd place (1451). Following are France (1658), Portugal (1701), Spain (1743), US (1852), UK (1913), Poland (1988), Italy (2118), Belgium (2178), and Hungary (3108).
Sweden's situation is improving over time. Many of the other nations that have moved up the bad list have had extreme lockdowns. What was their pay-off?
Explain it to me again - why do the brilliant people making government policy think more lockdowns are the solution?
was so confused at first by how your link drops into 2020 - it didn't match my calculations at all, haha.
Yeah, deaths per pop is what I use to compare different places. Case count graphs can be very misleading (like how Sweden's looks "lower" just because updates were more sporadic; but otherwise every graph is just arbitrarily sliding the y scale so that the biggest wave(s) go to the top).
Accounts of the degree to which Sweden was really in a "pseudo-lockdown" vary a bit, so I hesitate to assert too strongly what can be concluded from their example. But my instinct is that by diving into the first wave they avoided creating a natural coronavirus immunity debt like the West did and so they weren't trapped into a (moderately) viscous cycle; same as rural vs urban US.
But now that half the population has gotten itself Covid vaccinated they might have thrown themselves into the cycle - and if post-vaccination breakout infections start to lead to more severe outcomes than natural infection, the temptation for Sweden to get trapped in the lockdown and booster cycles will be pretty strong.
One other thing, I do appreciate you have thought about patterns over time, and have a theory about the first wave.
My theory is, (this is a rough approximation) the virus is eventually going to kill a certain number of people in each area. That number will vary from area to area b/c of variations in underlying factors, a key one being, how healthy is the population. Some areas (maybe Sweden) got started sooner b/c the virus was introduced there sooner. In any area, the deaths per capita will eventually peak and then decline due to herd immunity.
Other areas may in the early stages show better statistics b/c the virus got a later start. Eventually they will catch up with the areas that had the early start.
If the vaccine was really effective, it may have been worth the effort to slow the infections down with lockdowns. If I understand Berenson's most recent information correctly, the vaccines do show some effectiveness- but only temporarily. Then they have to be repeated. The info on the adverse effect is not really clear.
Bottom line - these countries that did the extreme lockdowns imposed a lot of suffering, but didn't get the benefit. I can understand, there's a lot they didn't know six months or a year ago. I can't really blame them for doing what they did.
I can blame them if the keep doing it with the information now available.
I used that website as the data source b/c it's the only one I found that would provide historical data.
If it dropped into 2020 when you opened it, I'm guessing it's b/c my last draw of data from the site was 7/31/20. I didn't think to reset it before copying and pasting the link. You're were able to figure it out, right? I would have.
You're right, the updates are sporadic. What I presented was looking at three points- today, 6 months ago, and a year ago. You're not saying the sporadic nature of data altered what I claimed in any meaningful way, are you?
I do agree, Sweden has gone through varying degrees of lockdown. I don't keep up with what goes on there day-to-day. I am aware the health authorities at one point were seriously reconsidering lockdowns, but I don't think they did it.
There's no denying, there's a VAST difference between Sweden and the rest of Europe. I have friends and relatives in Europe. The police in Austria knocked on the door multiple times to check that my sister-in-law was in fact locking down- even after she had passed the two-week (or whatever it was) requirement. A friend in Spain said she saw the police beating the shit out of some guy who wasn't complying with the lockdown.
I'm not really sure what the point of your post was. Just to put a cap on it, do you think what I presented was misleading? Or worse, false?
Right, I figured out that I was looking at 2020.
"Sporadic" refers to how Sweden looks on case count graphs, for example the one generated when you google "Sweden Covid stats." The point was just that case count recording is very spotty and so I agree that looking at deaths per pop is a far better approach.
The point was that so long as Sweden is the *only* control in Europe for the horrible lockdown experiment, it is too bad it was not *far* more fully open, and double too-bad that they have now mixed vaccination into their set of confounding factors.
Fair enough Brian.
I agree, in hindsight, wouldn't have been nice if things had been done differently. No argument there.
"Only" European control besides Belarus I think, whose stats are not trustworthy (though as with Sweden I would guess they really did do quite better thanks to not locking down).
On first hearing your Tucker interview, my mouth dropped open. I think Tucker interpreted your comments the same way. I backed it up and heard you correctly! Don’t you hate it when you have to send two emails to a group! People are so sensitive about their email traffic. Keep telling the truth Alex, no matter how many clarifications you send!
My family’s Token Liberal Lawyer (triple whammy) sent a group text to all of us linking to the CNBC reporting of the “dreaded” Massachusetts outbreak. Applying critical thinking is a lost skill. I typed a reply with the missing elements of fact in their story…..then I erased it and hit shift/delete. My first instinctual reply was “Masks don’t work” and I am not wearing a effing MASK”. Deleted those too. Fear mongering is not a list skill. In my liberal guys defense, he is legitimately terrified!
Thanks. It was a quick interview covering a lot of important ground.
I did come away from the interview understanding that daughter received a Covid vaccine shot…
Your point is now clarified…
All good..