Thinking Aloud On A Sunday

~ beetleypete

Coronavirus: The Other View

After some email exchanges with a friend last week, I woke up thinking about the other side of the current pandemic. This only applies to the situation in Britain, as I am not writing about any other country here.

For every scientific opinion that warns about the dangers of the virus, there seems to be another that claims it is not as bad as any other seasonal illness. For every ‘solid evidence’ that masks reduce contamination, there is alternative evidence that they do not.

Government lockdowns and other restrictions like curfews did not work in stopping the spread, and mainly seem to serve the purpose of controlling the movement of ‘ordinary’ people. Influential people, rich people, and privileged people have blatantly moved around at will; without facing prosecution, and with none of them actually dying from the virus.

The mass unemployment caused by those same lockdowns has actually served the purpose of our right-wing government and big business. It has done this by creating a large pool of unemployed people willing to take almost any job at the minimum wage, with no real contract or the usual employment benefits. We only have to use one example, Amazon, to see how big business has been making untold extra millions because of people being forced to stay at home.

Yes, tens of thousands of small businesses have had to close for good, but big business never cared about its competition, did it? And who supplies most of the donations and funding to the party currently in power?

Then when the financial crisis hits hard next year, the government can blame the supposed debt for policies like cutting benefits, delaying pension payments, and any other ‘austerity’ measures they see fit to introduce. None of this will affect the rich of course.

Former colleagues of mine still working in the Ambulance Service report that they have not actually dealt with a single confirmed case of coronavirus, despite the 40,000+ reported deaths here. Those same reported deaths include anyone who ‘tested positive’ for Covid-19 up to 28 days before they died. Then if they died in a car accident, or from terminal cancer, or because of a heart condition or stroke, they were ‘included’ in the numbers of Covid-related deaths for that period. Even if they did not have a single symptom associated with the virus.

Meanwhile, deaths from ‘treatable’ illnesses have rocketed, because they have suspended medical treatment and surgical procedures that might have saved those people. They have done this because of the need to save beds for C-19 patients, and it has caused far more than 40,000 unnecessary deaths.

These are not the findings of mask-haters, or lockdown rebels. They are the opnions of sensible, hard-working people who work for the Police, and the NHS.

They are not my own opinons, just so you know. But I felt it was time to present an alternative view of the current crisis.

69 thoughts on “Thinking Aloud On A Sunday”

  2. The weekend-visitor is back! 😉 Sorry! Thats true, Pete! We have to look at this crisis from several directions. Normally this can not be a communistic virus, it harms the wrong people. I think the virus is a real thing, but there are a lot of mutations, more or less harmful. This will cause further problems getting a vaccine. Lets place a prayer. Best wishes, Michael

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. Oh, dear…I don’t know what to think anymore so many figures being bandied about and so many cases of people with underlying conditions dying and being wrongly attributed to the figures…My brother-in-law died ..Covid-19 was the reason stated on his death cert but he had no test but was diabetic…Then today I saw a video of a young man who did the self-test but as an experiment actually didn’t take samples he recorded all of this and his result was positive…Is that the government’s fault or are the testers being lax? I don’t know and neither did he…But two scenarios which beg the question of what are the actual figures…Me I still wear my mask and practice social distancing partly because I wish to and the second part I cannot go into shops if I don’t wear one…

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  6. Quite a powerful post Pete. Some people have beaten me to this opinion, but you know what song perfectly reflects the times we are currently living in? I will give you the youtube video link below to find out and keep up the great work as always 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  7. China and New Zealand have managed to contain the virus successfully without wrecking their economies. GB and US have definitely not. The problem is the terrible pressure this is putting on health care workers and doctors. Selfish people who do not wear masks and get COVID and are hospitalized, and are putting huge pressure on a system in the US at least that was never designed to handle a pandemic of this kind. Let’s look to China and New Zealand and take a leaf out of their books.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. there are so many views out there. unfortunately though, people have their own agenda, political or otherwise, that they fail to recognize the common good. it is all about money first then people second. we all know who these people are. so sad. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. This is not an “Alternative” view. This is the view of the covid deny-ers and the anti-maskers. But people are entitled to choose their manner of suffering and if they desire to leave this world via the pandemic then we ought not to stand in the way of their desires. But everybody has a right to their own opinion.

    On another note, WordPress and I have parted company. Google was never indexing my blog ov er there and I was shouting into the wind except for a few wonderful folks like yourself and Chuq and Andrew and Steve …who found me and stuck with me. I am now back at: https://todaywithjohn.blogspot.com/

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  10. As to what to believe, believe the experts in the medical fields that are appropriate (not like a radiologist in our White House). Politicians are like bartenders, they are not experts, they are salespeople who are selling themselves. Stay safe.
    Warmest regards, Theo
    .

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  11. I think like you, Pete, in that we will have to learn to live with it. Hopefully in time all the hysteria will subside and we’ll either use freedom of choice and wear masks and forego crowded places, or we won’t. We’ll either get it or we won’t. It’s all up to us!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  12. In time, they say, we will learn to adjust because it might take sometime before this pandemic leaves our shores. And it is not like having a cold that would go away after a week or two. And I agree, some hospitals declare that the cause of death is Covid even if it is not. People are afraid to go to their doctors and to the hospitals to be treated.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  13. Here in the US, trump and his ilk are preaching ‘herd immunity’, like Sweden tried and the failure was devastating. It is simply open everything up, no masks, no social distancing, let everybody get the virus. The old and the ones with other terrible diseases like diabetes will DIE and the ‘strong’ survive. It is what the Nazis did in attempting to create a master race. Only using the virus instead of gas jets. The rich and powerful will have the care and medicine like trump did, the rest of us will be shoved into mass graves and no longer suck up Social Security and up the cost hospitalization insurance.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Yes, it seems that ‘herd immunity’ does not work with C-19, and the end result is a (possibly deliberate) culling of the poor, weak, and medically infirm. Some form of social cleansing by virus, that makes many people suspect that it was deliberately introduced for that reason.
      Thanks, Don.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  14. I’m not sure what a ‘lockdown’ actually means as we have never really done that in the U.S. Early on certain businesses were closed as we sorted things out (hair salons, gyms, restaurants) but for a long time now many if not most of these have been open in some kind of capacity, which makes sense to me. What would have also made sense was clear and coherent messaging from the top, especially promoting the easy to do things that most health professionals and experts agree one – wearing a mask and social distancing. Surprising a large percentage of the U.S. population still does not practice these basic items and that has been asking for trouble.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. One issue in Britain has been that devolved governments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have all played with a different rule book. Local lockdowns involved closing social venues, and restrictions on pubs, bars, restaurants, and socialising outside the home. It works for a while, and then seems to stop working. No doubt because so many people break the almost unenforceable rules.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  15. Lets face it, wearing a mask is easy, so we may as well, what harm can it do? If nothing else its a sign of solidarity, that you at least care, even if your glasses do steam up 🙂 We had volunteers over the summer from China and wearing a mask was second nature when they entered a town or city. Not because of Covid, but because of pollution! I’m not sure of the figures, but I’d wager more people die from pollution that will ever die from Covid, but in the same way I try my best not to add to the problem of pollution I will try not to add to the problem of Covid.
    To my mind lockdown is a result of a population not taking it seriously, and for most people to take it seriously then someone close has to get seriously ill or die. That’s a lot of dead people before we ‘get it’
    True tech is making a fortune, but then maybe that’s the fault of government letting them get so big in the first place. And from a government point of view its better to have people in work than not, although I’m sure that they are secretly happy that the social care bill will be reduced in the future, sad though it is.
    IMHO 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  16. This pandemic landed on a planet full of people, all equally challenged by something we had not encountered ourselves before. No one is left from the bubonic plague years to lend a hand. Many of us are doing our best with this grievous challenge. I think that the idea that somehow the world could carry on without deep economic consequences was unrealistic. Sure we may go overboard one way and then the other. But it is a health and economic catastrophe no matter how we choose to deal with it. I do like hearing all the various solutions we little humans are trying to come up with. It remains to be seen how this finally plays out.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. My thoughts are that we will eventually learn to live with it. Whether a vaccination arrives, and whether it is effective or not, it will just become like another version of the flu, which we have accepted will kill tens of thousands of vulnerable people annually.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  17. I admit that I agree with what you write in this post. I know that you said it was not your opinion, though. To me, it looks like a scripted play for a somber goal of leading sovereign states into a one-world government

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thanks for your thoughts, Maria. I do believe the virus exists, but also that it is not as bad as we are being told. The fear of the unknown leads to ‘control’, and makes it easier to manipulate a population.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  18. I don’t know what to believe or think any more, Pete. I’m still keeping my distance from everyone and wearing a mask when I’m out. You are right that some people/companies are doing very well out of it.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  19. The problem with this crisis and the illness itself is that nobody seems to have a good solution. There is still so much unknown about it, both about the sickness itself as well as the treatment. I honestly don’t know what’s best either anymore. We started wearing masks in stores here as well now, but do they really help? I honestly have no idea.All I know is that it’s a crazy world currently and not very far away from those you see in a post apocalyptic film. All we can do is hang in there and try to keep our sanity. That, and try to be safe …all of us😊

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  20. Interesting to see all of these points of view Pete. I’m not sure I’ve seen any credible research that says masks don’t work, but that said it sends a message that we are all trying to do our part. And, with mask-wearing near others, safe social distancing and common sense, we should be able to be much more “open” than we are, as the economic toll is devastating to those who can afford it least, which always seems to be the case. Not sure I agree with the one comment above about the US being “all or nothing” as stated, but if we had leaders who took it seriously and marshaled the best thinking to come up with solutions instead of making it a “red vs. blue” political issue, we’d be much further along – and we wouldn’t have a death rate 100X more than anyone else.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thanks for your thoughts, John. The mask issue is interesting, in that it only takes one microscopic droplet to infect a person. Even the best widely used masks cannot stop every droplet, especially when so many users fail to wear them over their nose as well as their mouth.
      As I said, I don’t share all those opinions, but I think they still deserve to be heard.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Like

      Reply

      1. But Pete, the statistic is a 95% reduction in spread when a mask is worn…does a 5% chance mean no one should wear them any longer? Here in the US, these “facts” are used to challenge the entire way we are trying to stop the spread. Considering that 48 states are on the upswing right now, I’d rather people at least TRIED. What if no one worked to fight Hitler in the 2nd world war because only a certain percentage of England had actually been bombed?

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        2. I agree with you, John. I continue to wear a mask, and I was just representing the argument of the other side, as it were. None of my followers will attack you. They are all sensible people who know better than to do that! 🙂
          Best wishes, Pete.

          Like

          Reply

  21. For what it’s worth, I think the ‘alternative’ view [of acknowledged experts!] has been suppressed, and the mass of the populace, who are, naturally enough, frightened of a potentially life-threatening disease, have been persuaded to treat anyone supporting the alternative view as a crank, or conspiracy theorist: the current slang term is ‘covidiot’, which I find particularly distasteful. I won’t expound further, but I worry about the level of unlegislated, or ineffectively debated, regulations that are allowing the government unprecedented levels of intrusion into our private affairs. Cheers, Jon.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  22. I must be honest, Pete, that the numbers of people becoming chronically ill from Covid-19 has never supported the economic disaster caused by the lockdowns. I initially thought it was the right thing to do as I have elderly parents to consider and would never take the attitude that the elderly don’t matter, but the lockdowns just don’t make sense. We had had a small number of deaths in South Africa compared to the deaths due to HIV/Aids and TB which were 78 000 and 64 000, respectively, in 2019. We have 2.2 million additional unemployed people now in a country with enormous unemployment and poverty. It just does not make any kind of sense.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I supported the lockdown based on the theory that keeping industry going was pointless if all the consumers ended up dying anyway. But there is no hard evidence that it made any real difference in Britain.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  23. Hard to know what to believe, the numbers feel like they are being plucked out of thin air sometimes. Apparently there are still a lot of false positive and false negative test results too, so who knows WTF is going on?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  25. WHO is now saying that that lockdowns should be a last resort. While lividemerald is correct in saying that many of the deceased suffered from other ailments, some of those included things like diabetes, asthma, and people with immune system problems or were cancer survivors. Most other ailments wouldn’t have gone on to kill the people who died. And then you have cases like Broadway star Nick Cordero. He was young and healthy and yet suffered horrifically for three months before succumbing. You also have people who have relatively mild symptoms, yet months later develop more worrying signs like heart problems.

    I think the point I’m trying to make is that no one has seen the likes of Covid-19 before and is still so much we don’t understand. While perhaps total lockdowns aren’t the answer, the people who scream the loudest about them are also the ones who refuse to do common sense, easy things like wearing a mask and social distancing.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thanks very much for your thoughts, Kim. In my case, I think we still have to take great care, but also accept that the first big lockdown solved nothing, once everyone began to socialise after it ended, and the kids returned to school.
      Best wishes, Pete.,

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  26. Here in the States, one party is advocating opening up businesses, and the other party is pushing for the continuation of, or a return to, business lockdowns. One party is saying that the so-called cure is worse than the disease, and the other one is obsessed with fatality numbers (ignoring the fact that many of those involve comorbidities). In fact, the whole thing is more of a political issue than a health issue here.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

All comments welcome

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.