This makes me sad actually, because not only did the US get it wrong, it was exponentially wrong and has hurt so many people, and continues to hurt so many people. We are still suffering for really bad decisions and why no one can stop and use some reason and common sense, and get us out of this horrible nightmare is really scary. I guess the red states are doing that, so thank goodness for them.
Thank goodness we have a control group country to demonstrate the effectiveness of letting nature take its course so natural herd immunity can be achieved (the same successful approach used to quash similar threats throughout human history). I appreciate your compiling the data and showing the sensibility of Sweden’s policy on this grossly exaggerated threat.
If you or any other science-minded folks want to jump into the fray at this excellent post by Charles Eisenstein (https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/the-rehearsal-is-over), I have spent way too much time trying to snap the Covidians out of their hypnosis and am ready to pass the baton to anyone who has the energy to lay out the science, although it is likely a waste of time given how wedded they are to their delusions. In any case, it’s an interesting read for those who have time to peruse the comments.
Absolutely. Sweden's and Tegnell's resolve to remain rational during this saga has been both amazing and inspiring. They stayed on course, despite tremendous political pressure and withering abuse - from other countries, international media, and also from many hand-wringing Swedish politicians and media.
On of the saddest things about the covid epidemic was the 'monkey see, monkey do' phenomenon among so many sovereign nations around the world, and so many US states.
Few would have dared to go solo with their lockdown/mask/mandate/pass routines. They waited for big players and organizations to start flashing 'run, don't walk' signs, saw that their neighbors were falling into line, and then quickly joined the parade.
This is called 'running with the pack'. And it was probably the most formidable international pack the world has ever seen. Whether it will ever disperse is an open question.
What Tegnell showed above all was courage. He essentially stuck with textbook pandemic mitigation while most of the world panicked and abandoned it. Tegnell is a highly intelligent man, but it didn’t take a superior intellect to see that the frenzied, ad hoc measures being taken in much of the US and the world didn’t make sense, and that the costs of these measures would likely exceed the benefits by an order of magnitude or more (if there were any real benefits at all).
“It was as if the world had gone mad, and everything we had discussed was forgotten,” Tegnell said in a podcast with Swedish Radio on Wednesday. “The cases became too many and the political pressure got too strong. And then Sweden stood there rather alone.”
I can understand getting it wrong at the start, but our 'leaders' have ignored way too much data to be given the benefit of the doubt. In April 2020 we got back antibody test results that showed the virus was already too widespread to stop. In July we determined there WAS some form of cross immunity. Also in July 2020 we found out about the high cycles of the PCR test. By August 2020 seasonality was obvious as the virus disappeared in the north and settled in the sunbelt -- exactly as predicted by Hope-Simpson.
None of it matters because this isn't about the virus. It's about controlling you.
which analyses adverse vaccine effects in Sweden, broken down by age and sex. It is why we stopped allowing the Moderna vaccine to be used on patients who are under 30.
Tegnell was (and is) right. The saddest thing is that Sweden mostly followed the previously established pandemic plans, which most of the Western countries had.
UK initially had the same plan as Sweden, but they got cold feet very quickly after the Imperial College (Ferguson) dire predictions of millions of people dead.
How well would Sweden's approach work in other countries? In many ways, Sweden is not that typical: population is healthy, apart from Stockholm population density is low, people mostly live in single person households and they naturally keep distance, there's high government trust
and high compliance, there's not much travel within the country (and if it is it's by car to go to some summer/winter cottage). All these characteristics are more or less the opposite of the US.
And Sweden still had many measures in place: work from home, schools were mainly closed (open only for younger people), large events were not allowed, limits in bars/restaurants, travel was restricted (only residents and some exceptions).
So, in many regards it wasn't much different than elsewhere except that measures were
less heavy-handed and forceful. But people mostly complied with "recommendations"
and adjusted behavior.
Sure, I would take Sweden's approach over other countries.
I'm short of time so would like to not have to re-create the main chart above. Can someone please send me the sources and underlying spreadsheets at sabhlok@gmail.com. Also, it is good practice for someone who's done the work to create such charts to publish this info.
Big fan of the Swedish approach and Anders Tegnell ( I have lived there through the pandemic ) but there was a -6% mortality deficit vs years 2015-19 for the 64 days before the first COVID death in Sweden, and the end of the flu season was in sight.
So this analysis, while interesting and persuasive could be seen as a bit of a slight of hand.
The baseline excess figure for Sweden from the date of the first COVID death to the start of the vaccine rollout is just over 11%.
Imo, this is caused by Americans being so incredibly unhealthy. A 40% obesity rate is unacceptable. Put 10 Americans in a room, 4 of them will be extremely fat. Another 3 will be chubby. Only 3 of them will have a healthy weight. That's shocking. Add on the poor cardiovascular health and comorbidities caused by sedentary living, you have a population that crumbles the moment it's challenged by a moderately dangerous virus.
This is the inevitable consequence of an entire nation overindulging in vices like eating crap. Meanwhile, healthier countries like Sweden walk away with much less damage. That's the real story here. But of course the debate revolves around how many masks you wear, how many shots you take, how hard you lock down.
When I bring this up with folks they respond that it is because Sweden is highly vaxxed. Adding the vax into the mix does make it difficult to determine cause and effect.
This makes me sad actually, because not only did the US get it wrong, it was exponentially wrong and has hurt so many people, and continues to hurt so many people. We are still suffering for really bad decisions and why no one can stop and use some reason and common sense, and get us out of this horrible nightmare is really scary. I guess the red states are doing that, so thank goodness for them.
Thank goodness we have a control group country to demonstrate the effectiveness of letting nature take its course so natural herd immunity can be achieved (the same successful approach used to quash similar threats throughout human history). I appreciate your compiling the data and showing the sensibility of Sweden’s policy on this grossly exaggerated threat.
If you or any other science-minded folks want to jump into the fray at this excellent post by Charles Eisenstein (https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/the-rehearsal-is-over), I have spent way too much time trying to snap the Covidians out of their hypnosis and am ready to pass the baton to anyone who has the energy to lay out the science, although it is likely a waste of time given how wedded they are to their delusions. In any case, it’s an interesting read for those who have time to peruse the comments.
Absolutely. Sweden's and Tegnell's resolve to remain rational during this saga has been both amazing and inspiring. They stayed on course, despite tremendous political pressure and withering abuse - from other countries, international media, and also from many hand-wringing Swedish politicians and media.
On of the saddest things about the covid epidemic was the 'monkey see, monkey do' phenomenon among so many sovereign nations around the world, and so many US states.
Few would have dared to go solo with their lockdown/mask/mandate/pass routines. They waited for big players and organizations to start flashing 'run, don't walk' signs, saw that their neighbors were falling into line, and then quickly joined the parade.
This is called 'running with the pack'. And it was probably the most formidable international pack the world has ever seen. Whether it will ever disperse is an open question.
What Tegnell showed above all was courage. He essentially stuck with textbook pandemic mitigation while most of the world panicked and abandoned it. Tegnell is a highly intelligent man, but it didn’t take a superior intellect to see that the frenzied, ad hoc measures being taken in much of the US and the world didn’t make sense, and that the costs of these measures would likely exceed the benefits by an order of magnitude or more (if there were any real benefits at all).
“It was as if the world had gone mad, and everything we had discussed was forgotten,” Tegnell said in a podcast with Swedish Radio on Wednesday. “The cases became too many and the political pressure got too strong. And then Sweden stood there rather alone.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/world-went-mad-imposing-covid-19-lockdowns-says-swedish-epidemiologist/story-0QsmZAhZ4uYaC7elcYnThP_amp.html
I can understand getting it wrong at the start, but our 'leaders' have ignored way too much data to be given the benefit of the doubt. In April 2020 we got back antibody test results that showed the virus was already too widespread to stop. In July we determined there WAS some form of cross immunity. Also in July 2020 we found out about the high cycles of the PCR test. By August 2020 seasonality was obvious as the virus disappeared in the north and settled in the sunbelt -- exactly as predicted by Hope-Simpson.
None of it matters because this isn't about the virus. It's about controlling you.
By the way, bad cat, you may be interested in reading this Swedish pre-print https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.04.21263507v1
which analyses adverse vaccine effects in Sweden, broken down by age and sex. It is why we stopped allowing the Moderna vaccine to be used on patients who are under 30.
Tegnell was (and is) right. The saddest thing is that Sweden mostly followed the previously established pandemic plans, which most of the Western countries had.
UK initially had the same plan as Sweden, but they got cold feet very quickly after the Imperial College (Ferguson) dire predictions of millions of people dead.
How well would Sweden's approach work in other countries? In many ways, Sweden is not that typical: population is healthy, apart from Stockholm population density is low, people mostly live in single person households and they naturally keep distance, there's high government trust
and high compliance, there's not much travel within the country (and if it is it's by car to go to some summer/winter cottage). All these characteristics are more or less the opposite of the US.
And Sweden still had many measures in place: work from home, schools were mainly closed (open only for younger people), large events were not allowed, limits in bars/restaurants, travel was restricted (only residents and some exceptions).
So, in many regards it wasn't much different than elsewhere except that measures were
less heavy-handed and forceful. But people mostly complied with "recommendations"
and adjusted behavior.
Sure, I would take Sweden's approach over other countries.
What’s causing the US excess deaths? And what’s Sweden’s vax rate?
I'm short of time so would like to not have to re-create the main chart above. Can someone please send me the sources and underlying spreadsheets at sabhlok@gmail.com. Also, it is good practice for someone who's done the work to create such charts to publish this info.
Big fan of the Swedish approach and Anders Tegnell ( I have lived there through the pandemic ) but there was a -6% mortality deficit vs years 2015-19 for the 64 days before the first COVID death in Sweden, and the end of the flu season was in sight.
So this analysis, while interesting and persuasive could be seen as a bit of a slight of hand.
The baseline excess figure for Sweden from the date of the first COVID death to the start of the vaccine rollout is just over 11%.
I'm making a t-shirt: Anders Tegnell is My Homeboy [with picture]
Imo, this is caused by Americans being so incredibly unhealthy. A 40% obesity rate is unacceptable. Put 10 Americans in a room, 4 of them will be extremely fat. Another 3 will be chubby. Only 3 of them will have a healthy weight. That's shocking. Add on the poor cardiovascular health and comorbidities caused by sedentary living, you have a population that crumbles the moment it's challenged by a moderately dangerous virus.
This is the inevitable consequence of an entire nation overindulging in vices like eating crap. Meanwhile, healthier countries like Sweden walk away with much less damage. That's the real story here. But of course the debate revolves around how many masks you wear, how many shots you take, how hard you lock down.
When I bring this up with folks they respond that it is because Sweden is highly vaxxed. Adding the vax into the mix does make it difficult to determine cause and effect.
And: https://shahar-26393.medium.com/not-a-shred-of-doubt-sweden-was-right-32e6dab1f47a
#2 ought to be the gold standard for all political regions (counties, states, countries). Brilliant ...