I’m the same. Naturally, I’m sure I have had all the childhood vaccines but, to Marge’s annoyance, I continue to refuse the constant offers of the flu vaccine I receive from the GP.
Covid data for Thursday, 27 August 2020
Global Cases 24,332,275
Global Deaths 829,665
Australia
Cases 25,322
Deaths 572
Critical 35
Cases per Million 991
UK
Cases 328,846
Deaths 41,465
Critical 68
Cases per Million 4,840
USA
Cases 6,000,365
Deaths 183,653
Critical 16,378
Cases per Million 18,111
Interesting bedtime reading. A little out of date now though…
https://facts4eu.org/news/2020_apr_covid_and_flu#
[I]There’s no doubt that the Coronavirus is a vicious little blighter. By the time that most readers will have read this, the number of deaths in the UK as a whole, where the deceased also tested positive for the Coronavirus, will have topped 10,000. Our concern remains proportionality of response, as it has been from the start.
No-one ever batted an eyelid or launched a drone because of deaths from winter ’flu
In the winter of 2014/2015, England on its own lost 28,330 people due to the ’flu, to say nothing of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Neither the Government nor the media batted an eyelid. All businesses and shops remained open, as did schools, restaurants, charities, churches, parks, and everywhere else.
Flights continued as normal. No holidays, weddings, or concerts were cancelled. The plans for the General Election, the Olympic Games, the 2016 EU Referendum, and even the Eurovision song contest continued to stay on track.
The police were not employing drones to keep us all under effective house arrest. Operations for serious conditions other than the ’flu were not being cancelled. Elderly and sick people could continue to see their doctors. And the economy was not being trashed for the younger generation.
In other words, life went on, completely unchanged. 28,330 people died of the ’flu in England alone. 89% of these people were pensioners. But life went on.
This morning (at 4am when this article is being finalised ) 8,937 people have died in England who have also tested positive for the Coronavirus. We don’t know how many have died “of the Coronavirus”, we only know that 8,937 have died “with the virus”.
Let’s keep things sensible and form opinions based on facts
The ’flu kills. Massive job losses kill. Poverty and despair kill. Lack of exercise kills. Over-eating through boredom kills. Total loss of quality of life kills.
All we are asking for is for some balance in the debate. Let’s work this thing out properly. To do that we need some solid facts. If others will not provide them, then we have to. Insane that we should have to do this, when we are trying to survive on a tiny income and yet the larger media and Brexit organisations have so much money, but this is the world we now seem to live in.
If you can help us to survive in our fifth year, please donate a little something to us this Easter Sunday. Quick and secure donation methods are below. Thank you so much, and you’ll get a personal email from a memnber of the team.
[ Sources: UK Government official 'flu reports including input from the Vaccines and Countermeasures Service, National Infection Service, Public Health England, with contributions from: Royal College of General Practitioners; Health Protection Scotland; West of Scotland Specialist Virology Centre; Public Health Wales; Public Health Agency Northern Ireland; Real-time Syndromic Surveillance Team, Public Health England; Flusurvey, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Respiratory Virus Unit, VRD, MS Colindale, Public Health England ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.[/I]
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Easter Sunday 12 Apr 2020
Very interesting and, I think, very relevant.
So has the government - have we all - been over-reacting to media messages? The media are well known to exaggerate. It’s in their interests to do so.
Instead of many of the limitations that are being imposed on us, wouldn’t it be better if we could just behave sensibly?
That’s what I do anyway. Yes, I wear a mask when we go into the supermarket, but it’s the disposable one I have been wearing for a couple of weeks! On the other hand, I keep well away from other people, I don’t cough or sneeze in people’s faces and, to be honest, don’t speak to any strangers.
Covid data for Friday, 28 August 2020
Global Cases 24,625,149
Global Deaths 835,627
Australia
Cases 25,446
Deaths 583
Critical 35
Cases per Million 996
UK
Cases 330,368
Deaths 41,477
Critical 64
Cases per Million 4,862
USA
Cases 6,046,634
Deaths 184,796
Critical 16,231
Cases per Million 18,251
It’s ok folks God will save us! According to the leaflet pushed through our doors by two folk who are over 80 by the looks of them!
As if the virus wouldn’t dare live on them or paper!
[ATTACH]13602.vB[/ATTACH]
Flu is predictable, covid is not. Flu hospitalisation terms are far shorter than Covid. The amount of ITU needed is far lower. Hence Covid overwhelms healthcare systems if not controlled. People who survive Covid aren’t recovering so quick. Some will be permanently disabled and decrepit as a result.
The Spanish flu had a devastating effect and they had lockdowns then. When you have a pandemic the dynamics change. There’s a difference between predictable winter flu deaths which healthcare systems are prepared for and Covid which was like a steamroller through ITUs.
I’m not sure whether anyone watched the Covid documentary based on the Royal free hospital, but I remember they were panicking at one point because they simply did not have enough oxygen capacity in the system to treat all the Covid patients and everyone else who needs it. It’s things like that which make you realise the gravity of a healthcare system that would have been in meltdown. So many more people would have died that did because we locked down.
I mean the whole world realised why do these flu bloggers think they are more intelligent?
This sounds perfectly feasible, but how do you explain the higher number of UK deaths routinely resulting from flu viruses than those from this coronavirus pandemic, as mentioned in post #4044?
Something I saw on social media today. Thought provoking.
This has got to end…
:What is the end game with COVID?
What is the magic formula that is going to allow us to sound the “all clear”? Is it zero cases? For a while, the goal was to simply “flatten the curve,” but now it seems as if there is, in fact, no end game.
Is it a vaccine? It took 25 years for a chicken pox vaccine to be developed. The smallpox inoculation was discovered in 1776 and the last known natural case was in 1977. We have a flu vaccine that is only 40-60% effective (that’s generous- the last two years it was more like 20-25%). Only 1/3rd of the Canadian population chooses to get one, and roughly 3,500 Canadians still die annually due to flu or flu complications.
They’re talking about mandating it? Do they really believe the majority of people will flock to get a fast-tracked vaccine, whose long-term side effects and overall efficacy rates are anyone’s best guess?
How long are we going to cancel? Postpone? Reconsider?
When do we decide quality of life outweighs risk?
We understand this virus can be deadly for SOME, but so are shellfish, peanut butter, and bee stings. We take risks every day without a second thought.
We know driving a car can be dangerous, but we don’t leave it parked in the garage for months on end. We know the dangers of smoking, drinking, and eating fried foods, but we do it, none-the-less. We speed on motorways, some idiots still don’t buckle their seatbelts, we take medications more than “as directed,” and a good number of individuals don’t think twice about unprotected sex.
Is hugging Granny really more dangerous than rush hour on the motorways???Is going to a bar with friends more risky than four day old gas station sushi? Or operating a chainsaw?
When and how did we so quickly lose our free will?
I want a waiver that says, “I understand the risks, but I choose a life with hugs, smiles, the exhibition, concerts, and school dances.”
I understand that there is a minuscule possibility I could die but, more probable, I will end up feeling like junk for a few days.
I understand I could possibly pass this virus onto someone else, but I can pass ANY virus onto someone else at any time until the end of time.
Are we busy living or busy being in fear of dying?
It’s hard to tell these days…
Ive been thinking along these lines for several weeks now LQ !
Has the whole world made a massive over reaction to this virus!
Or are we being manipulated for some reason?
Who knows?
Donkeyman!
I sure wish we did know Donkey, will we ever know? Probably not.
I have to say reading that really did make me put things in perspective.
Cracking post Lion Queen, and although I avoid crowded places and wear a mask while shopping (just to be on the safe side) my thoughts are along the lines demonstrated in your post…
Bleeding obvious really! Lockdown and social distancing.
Which figures are you thinking of when you say the higher numbers of flu deaths? 2015 was an outlier year.
The end game with Covid is a reproduction rate that is under 1.
Interesting that they didn’t mention the Polio vaccine. Nobody ever does.
Deaths from allergies can be avoided by using an epipen and avoiding the allergen. How many people with a severe peanut allergy will deliberately expose themselves to nuts to check whether they survive the reaction?
How many people go and play on the motorway to see whether they will get run over?
Smoking, drinking and eating fried foods have a cumulative negative effect. Catching a deadly virus is a bit faster. How many people who smoke would happily go and breathe in from a running exhaust pipe just to speed up the effect?
The social media post is all “me, me me” but hey that’s social media for you!
The figures quoted in that post for that year.
That was an outlier year where they got the vaccine strains wrong. Every year they try to prevent a flu epidemic. They plan for it. Nobody had planned for Covid. Flu is a wave, Covid has been a tsunami. I really don’t understand why that’s so complicated to grasp and why it gets compared with flu. But social media rules - wahay!
Presumably, the figures for that year would have been even higher if they didn’t have a vaccine at all, just as they don’t have a vaccine for covid.
How would you explain that?
I don’t understand your question.
JBR it’s not just about the number of deaths. There are major differences in the hospitalisation rates and duration and intensity for Covid. I think you are ignoring the bigger picture to focus on the death rate. Covid is high maintenance. Flu is not usually. Did you see my point about the oxygen capacity at Royal free? That is a major teaching hospital running out of capacity of something that is taken for granted normally. Don’t you see the difference between this and a normal week of the worst case scenario during business as usual?