The crazed authoritarians in the Guardian just cannot let Covid be.
Covid is alive and kicking. About 2.3 million people are infected with the virus in the UK, including as many as one in 18 in Scotland. There are more than 10,000 Covid patients in hospital. These infections are increasing the burden on the NHS and contributing to the staff shortages that are already causing chaos in airports and elsewhere. And that’s before we even consider deaths and long Covid.
In the real world, it is endemic. It has been since the middle of 2020. 10,000 patients in hospital – well, that is what hospitals are for, to look after sick people. Those who are in hospital will, more than likely be revealed on further investigation, to have some other underlying illness – and 10,000 out of a population of nearly seventy million is insignificant and does not warrant any special measures. Covid was always – like flu – serious for those with comorbidities. For the rest of us, it’s much like a bout of flu. For me, it meant two and a half days in bed and two weeks of fatigue. I also suffered a sore throat, coughing and some gastro intestinal discomfort that killed my appetite for a week or so. And for this, we must panic? For this we must go back to all those moronic measures that didn’t work the first time around?
As for long covid, this is just a fancy name for post viral syndrome. Bad for those that get it, of course, but it is nothing new or special, despite the fancy name they have given it. Back in 1989 I had a friend who went down with flu, got post viral syndrome and died of Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Oh and it isn’t covid that is responsible for those airport problems, it is the government’s response to it – pretty much like all of the so-called covid problems.
Yet our government talks and acts as if Covid is dead and gone. The health secretary, Sajid Javid, claims that we are in a post-pandemic phase. The prime minister insists that sky-high infections are no cause for concern (and indeed that Covid is so trivial that he hasn’t even bothered to think about the issue “for a while”).
For once, I am in agreement with Javid. No one should be thinking about it. If you get it, well go to bed, take paracetamol or strepsils, drink plenty of fluids and take some time off to properly recover. That’s it. It isn’t a big deal. Unpleasant, but not something that is likely to kill you.
The government’s own website recommends wearing masks in enclosed crowded spaces (as do other agencies such as the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control), but ministers and MPs conspicuously fail to wear masks in spaces such as the House of Commons.
Masks don’t work. Anyone who is still peddling this bullshit is either more dense than a black hole or being deliberately disingenuous. This being the Guardian, both is a possibility.
It’s not just the government acting as if it’s all over. So is the public. The huge crowds at the jubilee, at Glastonbury and now at Wimbledon show that, for many, life has returned to normal.
This is a good thing. We do not need masks, social distancing or any of the other stupid, useless measures. We need to get on with our lives.
This is corroborated by official figures. The Office for National Statistics says that the proportion of people who report wearing masks in public spaces fell from 57% in May to 38% in June. Mask wearing on public transport declined sharply in the same period.
Excellent news. Although I do still see the occasional mask wearer, which disappoints me.
This is hardly surprising. Evidence from this pandemic and others shows that people take precautions only when they perceive a risk. When we are told by those in charge that there is no risk any more, we naturally believe there is no reason to take precautions any more. But we still need to ask: a risk to whom? The common-sense answer is risk to oneself. But the evidence tells a different story. From early on in the pandemic it became clear that a sense of risk to the community was a critical factor in whether people followed Covid measures. And indeed, our own unpublished data shows that adherence to these measures is linked more to communal risk than to personal risk.
Of course there is a risk. Everything around us is a risk. There is a greater risk of serious injury or death on the roads than there is for a mild respiratory disease. The constant barrage of scaremongering has declined and people have reverted back to managing that risk for themselves. And, no, we do not need to do anything for the community. Each of us is responsible for our own risk. If you are vulnerable and are worried, then it is your responsibility to take whatever necessary precautions you deem fit. It does not mean that we shut down the economy and force people to wear stupid masks just so that you can feel safe.
The government’s recent and relentless emphasis on the personal has chipped away at this communal sense of concern and undermined our belief that caution is necessary.
It isn’t. The government is right for once. It should have done this two years ago and let the likes of the Guardian scream into the darkness.
Our behaviour isn’t just determined by what we believe about risk. It is also affected by what we think others believe. If we think our personal attitudes go against social norms – especially the norms of people like ourselves – then social norms generally play a bigger role in shaping our behaviour than personal attitudes.
As I discovered, while this is partly true, there were an awful lot of refuseniks like me. The Guardian is making a fundamental mistake here – it is presuming that I am a sheep. I am not. I am able to think critically, hence I see through their lies and gaslighting.
During the pandemic, for instance, people believed that others rejected the rules far more than they actually did. This led people to break the rules themselves, even if they believed in them. And these violations in turn became evidence that others rejected the rules – creating a vicious spiral.
I didn’t believe the rules, because they were scientifically illiterate bullshit. Looking around me, it quickly became obvious that my neighbours thought similarly. When I was able to get back to work, so too did my clients. People went along with it for fear of prosecution, not because they believed in them.
However, one of the main reasons people aren’t wearing masks has nothing to do with masks at all. We resent being told what to do by others, and tend to respond by reasserting our autonomy. This becomes even more acute when we believe this is a matter of “us” and “them”. That is precisely what has happened with Covid, and more specifically with masks. We live in a populist age, which divides society into “the people” and “the elite”, and where some believe the elite (or establishment) is seeking to control the people.
The elite include the kind of nasty scumbag who writes leaders in the Guardian. Masks were pointless. The evidence tells us this. Both prior to and following the outbreak. Yet still we get cretins like this pushing for them. No, I will not wear a mask. And damned right it is us and them – you are them and this whole article is justification of the attempts to control us.
Stephen Reicher is a member of the Sage subcommittee advising on behavioural science. He is a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an authority on crowd psychology
So, precisely the kind of charlatan who wouldn’t recognise the scientific principle if it thumped him on the nose. The kind of charlatan who spent nearly two years trying to control us with gaslighting and outright lies. A thoroughly nasty POS. Never trust a psychologist, they are not scientists, they are manipulative, evil control freaks.
As for covid, it’s here to stay, so get used to it and carry on as normal. Just as we do with seasonal flu.
“When we are told by those in charge that there is no risk any more, we naturally believe there is no reason to take precautions any more.”
Really? After decades of those in charge being wrong about everything all of the time? What kind of utter fools take the slightest bit of notice of what those in charge have to say?
“And indeed, our own unpublished data …” – Guardian, please publish your data, there’s no reason not to, unless closer inspection reveals it to be a mess of anecdote, fever dreams and Lefty self justification.
Because if the ‘great and good’ are found to be self interested control freaks, well they are not great or good. Surprise!
I absolutely, positively want to have a Tshirt with that image.
Also 10,000 / Number of hospitals (1229) is about 8 patients per hospital. Get clapping for our brave heroes.
I found it elsewhere. I don’t know if there is a high resolution one for printing onto a T shirt.
Apparently they will deliver to the UK
https://nvdteeshirt.com/product/wolf-your-first-mistake-was-to-assume-id-be-one-of-the-sheep-shirt/
No.
For some it’s nothing or much like a cold, for some, especially the jabbed, it’s much like a bout of flu
For a tiny minority, especially the jabbed, it’s more serious
For me it was no medication and carry on as normal except bed one hour early on one day
BTW
You may remember my quad jabbed brother (56) was bedridden with Covid a week after LR
Guess what? He’s back in bed today with Covid again
Airport Chaos
It’s world-wide
RoI: Dublin at standstill, phones, emails not answeded
Chaos: France, Germany, Holland, Canada, USA…
Some due to pilot jab injuries and likely to become worse as annual medicals come due… or will safety rules be changed
Good and bad news
When I use a phrase such as ‘much like the flu,’ it’s shorthand for not very serious. I’m writing a blog post, not a scientific paper. If I list all the possible variations the writing would become tedious and unreadable. Having spoken to others who have had it, jabbed or unjabbed, my experience was fairly typical. Much like a mild bout of the flu.
Have you found any correlation between the jabbed/unjabbed status and the severity/mildness of the symptoms? If non can be found I think that is highly significant. I had three jabs in the end but had not had one for maybe six months when I got the bug, same for Mrs. S. My symptoms were very mild, hers were a little worse, she had a bit of a snotty cold for a few days.
@LR “For the rest of us, it’s much like a bout of flu” is not shorthand for “not very serious”
First, it implies eveyone suffers a debilitating illness
Second, the ‘shorthand’ is longer
Most importantly Both are not true
Your expereince is not everyones
You should have said:
– For me, it was much like a bout of flu
Or
– Symptoms vary from nothing to serious for a few
You are being overly pedantic here. ‘Much like’ is a synonym for ‘similar to’ as in ‘not exactly.’ My experience was fairly typical. Some were much worse, some got away light. I see around two new clients a week, so have spoken directly to a couple of hundred people and more online. You got away very lightly, but you are the only person I’ve discussed it with who did.
My experience matches that of nearly everyone I’ve spoken to, so my deliberately generalised comment allowed for that and the outliers. It was accurate enough for the purpose. As I said, it’s a blog post not a scientific paper. My comment conveyed my meaning that it wasn’t very serious perfectly well.
So I’ve no plans to rewrite it and we shall have to agree to disagree on the matter and let it rest.
Jabbed v Uunjabbed
eg my brother
And
FT:
In summary: Since Autumn 2021 jabbed have had more serious illness, more hospitalisation, ICU and death. Hence why PHS, UKHSE, Canada and more ceased publishing figures
In New Zealand we still have mask wearing in shops. I asked for and received an exemption and no one is particularly bothered that I am bare faced. I have been challenged twice and on explaining I am exempt, the challengers backed off. I know 3 people who have had Covid,a couple in their 60s and now my friends 8 year old daughter.All three are fully jabbed and mask wearers,so if masks are so effective, how did they catch it? Now the officials running the propaganda service are getting themselves worked up about the latest variants coming through. How the hell did we manage to win two World Wars?
Grauniad to the plebs: “We demand that you live in fear! Why do you continue to disobey us!”
On the subject of masks I am very grateful to Nicola Sturgeon for insisting that the Scots wear them for a lot longer than England.
Sadly there was no benefit but the science is now settled.
“We live in a populist age, which divides society into ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’, and where some believe the elite (or establishment) is seeking to control the people.“
Now, wherever might people have got that idea from?
“Stephen Reicher is a member of the Sage subcommittee advising on behavioural science.”
Ah.
Exactly.
Reicher needs to be arrested and tried for crimes
Against humanity – preferably after HRA repeal
https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/call-new-covid-rules-uk-7302912
The crucial point in the article was that deaths remain at a low level yet we should panic over a runny nose and headache. FFS!
https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/call-new-covid-rules-uk-7302912
Just seen this rubbish on Devon live aka Devon lies
@LR, July 7, 2022 at 05:18
It was not, most infected have Zero symptoms or so mild they go unnoticed. I notice due to medical background
No surprise in obfuscating reply
Much talk of shorthand, then many words expended on denying any errors or untruths with various defences, excuses, diversions which don’t excuse initial error
Blog or not, when writing about scientific matter, which medicine is. Facts matter and the “fact”, not opinion, stated Is Untrue
One would Fail a driving test by answering questions with opinion not fact
Stronger, quicker and easier to simply say “Yeah, I made a mistake / I was wrong, sorry”
Worth thinking about
Okay, I will give this one final comment and then the subject will be dropped because I have had enough of it. In the analysis cited by Carl Henegan, and therefore one I am prepared to give credence, they state:
The claim that ‘most’ cases are asymptomatic is exaggerated by one datum that claims 80%. However, this is unverified and unverified is not fact. Other comments are qualified with terms such as ‘suggests.’ Given that testing swathes of the population and risking false positives and including presymptomatics in the collected data in an attempt to determine that actual level, means that this will always be a degree of guesswork, hence their caution. The reality, looking at the data, is that what evidence they have is vague and much lower than ‘most,’ frankly.
What you are claiming as fact is, in reality, a hypothesis. Okay, so that one was back in 2020, however, even more recent studies with more data are still being cautious when suggesting as much as 40% (which is still not ‘most’). Again, they use vague terms such as ‘estimates,’ to give themselves wriggle room. An estimate is not a fact.
Ultimately, the proportion of asymptomatic cases isn’t relevant to the point that I was making. My statement ‘much like a bout of flu’ painted a simple picture of a disease that presents with a range of familiar symptoms and is unlikely to be fatal – so, yes, a form of shorthand for the benefit of the argument I was making about a proposed authoritarian response to a relatively mild ailment. I have not obfuscated, nor have I claimed untruths or used excuses. In making these accusations, you cross that line between polite disagreement and insult. Indeed, I was giving your repeated badgering at the subject more response than it deserved, as I am now, because you are a regular here and I am happy to hear your views. However, to be clear, there was no error, merely a deliberately broad form of wording designed to cover a range of symptoms.
Noting the above – I didn’t make a mistake, I am not wrong and I am not sorry, for I have no reason to be. I stand by every word I said. I am weary of your tendency to take one or two words out of context and batter them to death in the process as you attempt to force me into some sort of submission or confession over something I haven’t said or done. I don’t take kindly to this behaviour and I want it to stop. If you disagree with me, fine, you are free to express your dissent as happens often enough. If I respond with an explanation, then accept it for what it is and let it drop. You’ve made your point and we now agree to disagree on the subject. Don’t browbeat me, because I don’t like it.
There will be no more comment on this one from me and I expect the same from you.