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It seems that the truth does get hidden in quite a few nations, even the Netherlands has yet to admit that they have a far worse casualty number in care homes and among elder people because if a person is dead and not tested they do not count. The Ostrich politics are sadly common here too.
Perhaps they were hoping to shoot the virus. As we've learned from movies, guns solve everything.
See my ten foot pole? I won't even touch this with it.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/18/21226544/cuomo-new-yorkers-marriage-licenses-zoom-coronavirus
I think restricting the discussion in this fashion allows the Stupid Side to have free reign to promote their position while those who want the scientific and medical communities to be the predominant voices in this discussion are forced to be silent. Additionally, there is significant evidence that the "Open it All Up for Business NOW!" partisans are not at all a grassroots movement, but are instead funded by --oh, let's just say "partisan political interests." Sorry to be a pest, but I don't think our silence in this matter serves the greater cause of ending the Corona virus pandemic in the slightest. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/18/coronavirus-americans-protest-stay-at-home?fbclid=IwAR1i0lcK0C9sTHxJqqEliwzxwbasGPtTe_NcEG8uebimDetJ-M0KJVqoMCs
There's an ugly rumour going around in the American press that my country, Belgium, is the worst when it comes to the number of corona deaths. The truth is that Belgium is by far the only country actually reporting ALL corona deaths, not just the hospital ones. Sixty percent of our deaths occur in homes for the elder. Those deaths happen in other countries too, but many choose not to count and certainly not to report them.
Furthermore, in various lists of countries dealing with the situation best, Belgium is ranking very high, well above the UK and miles above the USA, for example. These lists were put together based on a full body of things to consider, not merely based on twisted statistics.
Lastly, it's sad and morally wrong to compare death tolls between countries for the sake of making one's own mortality numbers somehow look less disturbing. Every person dying from this disease is one too many. But even IF this practice could be justified, to say that America is doing better than Belgium based on the number of deaths per capita, is a slippery slope, I'm afraid. By that logic, 9/11 was not much of a big deal compared to the Zaventem Airport terror attacks of a few years back. Fewer people got killed there, but there are also fewer of us, Belgians, so suck it up, America, because 9/11 was just a picnic in the whole of recent terror attacks. ... Needless to say that this "logic" is twisted and false; alas, this is the logic that America nowadays must suffer in desperate attempts to somehow make the pandemic look less bad than it is, to wash the tens of thousands of dead people away in distorted statistics and to avoid further debate about America's health system, which places it far below dozens of countries many Americans still love to treat as "inferior" or "failed states", whatever those terms mean.
I'm sorry I had to get this off my chest. I love America, but I'm growing sick and tired of this "we're the only civilised country in the world, we're the future, we're superior" attitude. Not a lot of numbers are left, however you bend them, to support those claims. And in this case, there are hard facts to consider, sad though they are, of which the only positive outcome may be, hopefully, that America too starts thinking about whether or not certain systems must be changed quickly.
https://www.newsweek.com/belgium-highest-covid-19-death-rate-1498021
You write: "Furthermore, in various lists of countries dealing with the situation best, Belgium is ranking very high, well above the UK and miles above the USA, for example."
No one is disputing this. In fact, I think a lot of Americans (including the press) appreciate your government's transparency.
I agree that it is sad and morally wrong to compare death tolls. This is why it irks me sometimes when certain people on social media continue to gloat about their country's low mortality and the quick thinking of their governments as compared to Italy, Spain, and the U.S. I find it not just distasteful, but repulsive.
But I do recognize that people (no matter where they are) are emotional creatures who carry a certain pride in where they come from. And that's fine. At the end of the day, I'm not going to worry about it. Rather, I'm going to reflect on the heart-breaking number of my fellow New Yorkers who have died from this terrible disease, as well as all of the victims across the globe.
As you wrote, it should never be a competition. We're in this mess together.
Darth Dimi, many millions of us Americans care about Belgium, and the rest of the world.
Well, @echo, since this isn't a political thread, I didn't want to emphasize a certain point, but my anger is, of course, mainly directed to one person and those foolish enough to hang on his every word. ;-)
Yes, there is a political element to Covid -19
But don’t let this become a political discussion. Please.
I think the main political question being raised for every country is this -
When do we come out of lockdown?
It is the dangerous tightrope all countries are walking now. The economy vs protecting the health service.
One is not mutually exclusive to the other. They both overlap. As time goes on under lockdown, all economies are slowly collapsing more and more, yet open the lockdown too quickly and we could be in to a second wave, and a second lockdown, which could crash the economy even further.
One thing is for sure - I would not like to be in any politician's shoes right now to make these decisions. Either path they choose, its all a matter of life and death.
The 500 biggest (known) multi-billionaires in the world have increased their fortunes by 20% during this so called crisis, so it isn t all bad.
Sure, if you're lucky enough to be a multi-billionaire. Unfortunately I'm not one.
Yeah I wouldn't want to be in their shoes - one mistake in one way could have catastrophic outcomes. It seems that the way forward being approached is to ease restrictions slightly and see what affect results. Looking increasingly like the only true way out is getting the vaccine - think it's telling that in the UK they've really ramped this up and are aiming to get a vaccine for September ahead of the projected 12-18 months needed.
Yes, vaccine is the only real answer. Until it is released to the mainstream, the whole planet will remain in some form of lockdown, with some countries having tighter measures than others, depending on where they are with the spread of the virus.
"Di Lorenzo also added that talks are underway with a pool of international investors and several governments for a “relevant investment,” which would further speed up the development of the vaccine and its industrial production. "
You have to be very careful here as many firms will be looking for investment and "over egging the pudding" in an attempt to bring in investment that would otherwise go to a competitor.
"Talks were under way" - so no investment yet, just talks
How do you know this?
The other main one mentioned is to get enough people infected to reach herd immunity, but that would take even longer than waiting for a vaccine (not even mentioning our health care system & hospitals would collapse. Herd immunity is achieved once 60% to 70% of the population is infected. We are currently at 'only' 2.4 million confirmed cases. Even if we multiply it by 10 for un-registered cases, we are still at least 4 billion cases too low. Even at 1 million new cases per day, it would take until 2031 at minimum to have enough infections to achieve this.
It does, and it would take at least a decade to achieve. So whoever mentions it fail to realize it is in no way a realistic solution. I keep checking the live-threads of coronavirus on Reddit, and 'let's wait for the vaccine!' & 'let's reach herd immunity!' are basically the only 2* solutions discussed, so people really seem unsure on what to do next.
*3 if you count 'let's stay in lockdown forever'.
Well, without lockdowns and social restrictions in the first place the herd immunity would be achieved far quicker, given also how contagious is this virus, especially in Europe given the density of the continent.
And how many people would need to die in order to reach that herd immunity? 10 times as many as have already died, hmm? A small price to pay, you say. Okay fine: everybody's who's volunteering to die in order to reach that noble goal, raise your hands. Our Death Squad will be coming around shortly to punch your ticket.
I don't know this for certain, just an opinion, a guess, but its fair to say a fairly obvious one based on what we know is happening around the planet.
Problem - new virus spread, killing thousands each day
Solution - vaccine to stop people catching the virus
If you can think of any other solutions to fix this, I'm all ears.