CORONAVIRUS: Sweden Update

Sweden never really had any drastic lockdowns, quarantines or mask-mandates.  The attitude of their government was to let nature take its course so that their citizens could quickly reach the so-called "herd immunity."  It was controversial because it was counter to the way nearly everyone else on the planet was dealing with the coronavirus.

As time wore on, Sweden's rate of infection and "case fatality rate" stayed high while in other countries (like Italy) their numbers had dropped off drastically.  The number of cases and deaths in Italy peaked around the end of March.  But then things started dropping off, and by the end of May, Italy was basically done with the coronavirus.  On July 19th Italy was down to just three deaths.

But in Sweden, by the middle of June, there was a lot of second-guessing and second-thoughts.  There was dissention within their government.  It looked like something different would have to be done.  And then...

On June 24th, the number of new cases in Sweden peaked at 1,803.  By June 28th it was down to 475.  Jump forward to July 20, Sweden is down to just 36 new cases. 

But what about deaths?

Sweden's death rate peaked in the middle of April and then began steadily dropping.  On July 20th Sweden had zero COVID19 deaths.  They are, for all intents and purposes, done with the coronavirus.  

Sweden has 10,330,000 people.  They are reporting a total of 78,048 COVID19 cases and 5,639 deaths.  If we look at the raw numbers, Sweden's "case fatality rate" is 7.2%, which seems quite high.  But really only 0.055% of their population has died from the virus.  The current number for the U.S. is 0.043%.  

So the situation in Sweden is not as bad as it seemed.  And at this point they are basically done with the coronavirus while the U.S. keeps struggling with increasing infections and deaths.  So in the long run, will Sweden look like the smarter people?

CORONAVIRUS: Media Hype Versus Reality

Long-time CNN reporter Gary Tuchman went out to Gulf Shores, Alabama during the Memorial Day Weekend (May 24-26). The beach was open and jam-packed full of people, young and old, who'd been cooped-up in their homes for the last couple of months.

Tuchman opens his report with an alarming falsehood. Coronavirus cases in Alabama are going the wrong way. They are trending up.  But the state is wide open for business."

Well...let's look, shall we? Here's the graph of the number of COVID19 cases in Alabama from March 20th until now.

As you can see from the above, during the month of May the number of new cases was up and down with maybe a slight upward trend.  But it was hardly enough of one to warrant Tuchman's dire opening statement, which was clearly aimed at making people panic.  (Then again, it's CNN so what did we expect?)

Then, sure enough, as we got into June, the number of new cases in Alabama did double, from about 500 per day to 1,000 per day.  But again, it was not a "big spike!" as the media is so often prone to breathlessly describe things.

As he walked around the beach, Tuchman was especially peeved that nobody seemed to be wearing masks. He interviewed many of them, acting at times like an angry parent upbraiding an impudent child. He asked one girl if she wasn't worried about catching the coronavirus? She said no. "There's enough wind and air, and it'll clear it all out of here." 

Doctor Tuchman (he's not a real doctor), clearly annoyed replied, "The wind and the air don't clear it away - there's no proof of anything like that!"

Well, maybe he's right.  So if that's the case, let's look at the number of deaths in Alabama since March.

Hmm.  There were plenty of deaths in April, but then they settled down to about 20 or less per day through the end of May and through June.  On a few days in June, Alabama logged zero COVID19 deaths. 

Well, this is a dilemma...for CNN.  Because here too, the number of people dying from COVID19 in Alabama does not seem to be related to the number of people on the beach at Gulf Shores over the Memorial Day Weekend.  I mean, it's been over a month; you'd think the number of deaths would have started increasing by now.

(Some have claimed that the beachgoers that weekend were made up of people from out of state, not just Alabamians.  But from the random people Gary Tuchman interviewed, it seemed as though the majority of them were locals.)

Here's the problem: People are not stupid.  People understand that they are being fed conflicting information about this coronavirus.  They know intuitively that wearing a mask outdoors...like out on a public beach...is just useless and stupid.

City officials in Gulf Shores (and neighboring Orange Beach) pushed back against the CNN report.  They took issue with its accuracy and reporter Gary Tuchman's agenda.  You can read that story HERE.  It's got the both the original CNN report and the Gulf Shores mayor's response on local TV station WPMI.

Parenthetically, people were quick to point out that the CNN reporter Tuchman was only wearing a mask when he was on camera or interviewing people.  His cameraman wasn't wearing one at all.  Hypocrite much, CNN?

People get to feeling like they're being deliberately lied to.  People don't know who to believe, so they believe no one.  Young people, especially, see through the bullshit and hyperbole.  People saw New York Governor Cuomo panic unnecessarily.  They see with their own eyes that even if we did nothing, this pandemic would not have been nearly as deadly as the so-called experts told us it would be.  (Obviously, I'm inclined to agree.)

Those in the media jump up and down and screech, "It's not the flu!  This could kill you!"  But it's not killing young people; it's not even making them sick.  To them it's basically, well, like the flu.  (Sorry.)

Since I live in a Florida beach town about 30 miles east of Gulf Shores, I can tell you that much like our neighbors in Alabama, Pensacola residents do not see the COVID19 as such a huge threat to their safety and well-being.  They have a certain fatalistic attitude towards the coronavirus, which seems to be, "If you're afraid of catching the disease and don't want to catch it, just stay home."

Here in Florida, the number of new COVID19 cases has been steadily and sharply increasing.  Thankfully, most of them are in the southern, most-populous part of the state.  Governor Ron DeSantis must be holding his breath, nervously watching the numbers.  I'm sure that every morning when he wakes up, the first thing he does is check the COVID19 hospitalizations and deaths.

The governor has re-tightened some of the statewide restrictions that had previously been relaxed.  Here in the panhandle, our beaches are still open.  But it may only be a matter of time until they're closed again.

Or maybe not!  As I've said all along, we shall see...