When my mother-in-law was first taken to hospital, she had a slight fever, so the doctors said it had to be corona (because that's obviously the only reason one would develop fever nowadays) even though she had no symptoms such as coughing or sneezing and didn't complain about sore throat, either. They also said she would die very soon.
Not satisfied with 2 negative test results, they made a lung scan which came out clean. Yet, her prognosis didn't change, and she passed away about 2 weeks afterwards. My mother-in-law had several serious health issues, including metastatic cancer, which all contributed to her death. Yet, if she had had corona, she probably would have died a week earlier and contributed to corona statistics and people would read about another virus victim and get scared.
This experience made me think, how dangerous corona really is and for whom? And how do we know it hasn't always being around since there were no tests done in the past? My own Granny, for instance, died from pneumonia 4 years ago, but really from old age. She got pneumonia after she collapsed and became bed-ridden for several days, which the doctor had said was exactly what would happen. Frail elderly people with chronic diseases are prone to lung infections and that's what many of them die of (I could give you more examples, but you get my point).
Until March 2020, nobody was getting hysterical about this fact or tried to test dying people for virus or forced the family to wear full protective gear while visiting them. So what the heck is going on? Thoughts?
It seems to me to be a power grab--how compliant are we? Shutting down and distancing was good for about two weeks, but when more knowledge was gained about the virus and how it transmits we could have and should have gone back to school and work. After six months I've had enough! I don't know about European countries, but the USA is being in the midst of a "civil war" between those who want liberty and those who want socialism.
ReplyDeleteNot sure it's about socialism, the supposedly socialist Sweden is the freest at the moment, with the most sensible policies. They even abolished mandatory masks in public transport. Supposedly capitalist UK, on the other hand isn't doing so great, but the worst seems to be Australia from what I heard.
ReplyDeleteWe are lucky over here because we still have a lot of sensible people, I guess, and some constitutional freedoms, but there are elements of mass hysteria as well, including aggressive testing of young healthy people with mild cases of sniffles.
I have been thinking along the lines of power-grab, but it must be on the global scale (financial oligarchy getting richer?) because on the national level, at least, it costs the governments here in Europe TONS of money.
These harsh comments by you caught my attention a few months ago. You seem to have done a 180 in your opinion.
ReplyDeleteSanneMarch 28, 2020 at 4:43 AM
Mark, I heard Bergamo is very nice this time of year. Why don't you go there and visit a hospital or two, shake hands, may be volunteer to help? Honestly, I'm getting tired of people trying to deny reality. Italians had nearly 1000 deaths yesterday.
SanneMarch 29, 2020 at 2:56 AM Yes, I do know actually. May be for you Bergamo is like another planet, for me it's 2 days with a car. 21 people on average die from flu in Italy, every day, vs 900+ for corona. They have normally total amount of deaths about 1800 a day, it's now much more, is it so difficult to understand? Seriously, talk is cheap on the internet, just freaking GO THERE, and don't forget to visit Barcelona and Iran on the way back. One good thing I hope comes out of it is that libertarian ideology will finally die. SanneMarch 29, 2020 at 3:24 AM https://mobile.twitter.com/tophetem/status/1244165903329251328 But keep telling yourself it's just like flu. Yeah, Spain and Italy are just doing it all for fun, because they like it. Last smallpox outbreak in Europe in 1972 "only" killed 35 people, I wonder why didn't the authorities "just let the disease run its course" but took measures instead. After all, smallpox death rates (10% up to 30% depending on age) are quite comparable to untreated Covid
So what? I change my opinion depending on the facts. In March we knew very little and people were dying in droves, while now it appears that though the numbers of new cases climb, the death rates don't. So there must be an explanation. It could be that there were really many more cases back then since they hardly tested anyone. It could be that the tests they are using now are too sensitive and give false positives (people who already had corona still testing positive). It could be that since it's summer people have more vitamin D which makes them less susceptible. It could be that Bergamo had too many elderly who became victims (countries like Italy and Spain have nursing homes, too). It could be that the virus mutated and became less lethal. It could be all of that combined. I think the public deserves answer to these questions.
ReplyDeleteFinally, do you always comb through my old posts? Looks like stalking to me. Is this your behaviour in real life, too, or only on the internet?
LOL! No, I am just a reader mostly. I don't usually comment unless something really seems unjustified. When your opinion changed, you never went back to apologize to the poster to whom you were so harsh. I totally agree that things have changed rapidly; which is all the more reason to approach others with kindness and grace, not rebuke.
ReplyDeleteNo way, Karen! I'm the manager here.
ReplyDelete