Seem familiar?
Tag: lockdowns
There’s a difference…
Sweden shows lockdowns were unnecessary. No wonder public health officials hate it
You know who isn’t worried about a second wave of COVID-19? Sweden. The stolid Scandinavian kingdom has just carried out a record number of COVID-19 tests and found a positive rate of just 1.2%, the lowest since the start of the pandemic. As Sweden’s case rate drops below Norway’s and Denmark’s, those commentators who spent April and May raging against what a Washington Post op-ed called its “experiment with national chauvinism” and predicting colossal fatalities have suddenly gone quiet.
“Sweden has gone from being one of the countries with the most infection in Europe to one of those with the least infection in Europe, while many other countries have seen a rather dramatic increase,” says Anders Tegnell, the state epidemiologist.
True, and it has happened not despite the absence of a lockdown but because of it. Sweden encouraged people to work from home, made university courses remote, and banned meetings of more than 50 people but otherwise trusted its citizens to use their common sense. The authorities judged that since hospitals could cope, there was no need to buy time by ordering people to stay indoors. That judgment has been amply vindicated.
A cause for unalloyed joy, you might think. Here, after all, is proof that a country can contain the coronavirus without depriving children of an education, piling up backlogs of non-coronavirus medical conditions, or leaving a smoking crater where its economy used to be.
But the rest of the world is far from pleased. Indeed, the tone of most foreign media coverage remains affronted, and you can see why. After all, if Sweden’s strategy was viable, the rest of us ruined ourselves for nothing. That is a disquieting thought, almost an unbearable one. But Sweden forces us to confront it.
Questions, questions…
Nearly two decades after 9/11, the parallels between the post-terrorist attack ‘New Normal’ & that of Covid-19 can’t be ignored
Both the 9/11 attacks and the Covid-19 pandemic have dramatically shaped Western society. But the changes they wrought were devastating and unnecessary, pushed through by control-hungry governments who saw opportunity in crisis.
While both the worst terror attack in US history and the deadliest pandemic in a generation were immediately hyped as the defining elements of the era, the uncomfortable reality is that neither terrorism nor the novel coronavirus pose any risk more severe than taking a bath.
However, the media hype – fueled by think tanks and governments drooling over the possibility of adopting controls that would normally spark popular revolt – has created the same climate of fear that allowed the imposition of the post-9/11 police state, paving the way for a post-Covid regime that will make the Patriot Act look cuddly.
The shocking changes to the American “way of life” that have followed both events were in no way required, or even logical, responses to the crises in question. It took an unlikely series of what the government described as “intelligence failures” for the events of 9/11 to fall into place, and the Trump administration scrapped completely adequate pandemic response plans to adopt a regime of lockdowns and economic shutdowns that will likely end up doing more harm than the virus itself. Had governments followed their own procedures, neither catastrophe likely would have happened.
Australia Goes Full Fascist: State Issues First Ankle Tracker for Quarantine Violator
This week, Australia took its burgeoning fascist police state to a new level, with officials in Western Australia now issuing electronic ankle bracelets and forced isolation in specially designated hotels to anyone it believes has violated the new raft of controversial new ‘COVID laws.’
A 33-year-old woman from Perth in Western Australia has become the first person to be fitted with the state’s new electronic monitoring bracelet, after allegedly violating new COVID quarantine rules imposed on the population.
According to police reports, the woman arrived home from New South Wales state on September 1st, and was then directed to ‘self-isolate’ in her Perth home for 14 days as part of Australia’s new mandatory quarantine system.
She was then caught by agents working with the state’s newly deputised COVID enforcement force known as the “Self-Quarantine Assurance Team.” Agents claim they were only conducting a “routine check” when they discovered two men visiting the woman at her own house. Agents then raised the alarm to central office who then promptly ordered the woman be removed from her home and placed in a specially designated hotel which is being used by the state as a makeshift isolation facility where she would be tagged and surveilled for a period of two weeks.
On top of the forced detention, the woman was issued with a punitive $1,000 AUD fine for interacting with the two men during her initial home quarantine order.
Surprise! Politicians Worldwide Aren’t Following Their Own COVID Rules…
Are you ready for this week’s absurdity? Here’s our weekly roll-up of the most ridiculous stories from around the world that are threats to your liberty, risks to your prosperity… and on occasion, inspiring poetic justice.
‘I’m The Public Face’: Here’s A List Of Lawmakers Who Broke COVID Rules
- Not all lawmakers have been willing to follow social distancing restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
- Democratic Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney was photographed dining indoors Sunday, though Philadelphia still prohibits indoor dining.
- Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended hair appointments despite COVID restrictions.
- Here’s a list of lawmakers who have tried to dodge coronavirus rules.
Lawmakers have mandated a variety of COVID restrictions to stem the spread of the pandemic, but not all lawmakers have been willing to follow the rules.
Governors, mayors and state health departments have required that Americans wear masks, social distance, refrain from spending time in large groups, quarantine after traveling across state lines, stay home from church services and much more.
But many political leaders and members of their families have failed to comply with social distancing rules. Here’s a list of lawmakers who appeared to dodge coronavirus-related restrictions.
L.A. County walks back Halloween ban, says trick-or-treating ‘not recommended’
Less than a day after issuing new health guidelines that banned trick-or-treating and other Halloween activities, Los Angeles County public health officials walked back the decision Wednesday.
Citing an inability to maintain safe social distancing and the potential for gatherings beyond household members, county officials initially nixed trick-or-treating along with other Halloween traditions, including haunted houses and parades.
But Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Wednesday that the guidelines have been “slightly revised.”
Ferrer said the change distinguishes between activities originally prohibited under the health officer order from activities that are “not recommended.”
“This year, it’s just not safe to celebrate in the ways we usually do,” Ferrer said. “We are recommending that trick-or-treating not happen this year.”
The Department of Public Health previously said that because some of the traditional ways in which Halloween is celebrated do not allow contact with nonhousehold members to be minimized, it is important to identify safer alternatives.
“Trunk-or-treat” events involving car-to-car candy dispersal, which are sometimes held by churches or schools, also are not recommended under the revised order.
New York Indoor-Dining To Resume Sept 30th, Cuomo Urges Citizens To Snitch On Violators
So what “science” changed in the last 24 hours?
Just a day after a large group on New York restaurateurs filed a $2 billion lawsuit against Cuomo and De Blasio over the ongoing COVID lockdowns, the Governor just announced that indoor-dining will be allowed (at 25% capacity) starting on September 30th.
The restaurant owners exclaimed:
“We’ve been patient, the numbers are fantastic, the COVID statistics, we don’t know what more we could do,” said one business owner.
“This is a lawsuit. We don’t wanna do this. This is not us, we are workers. We work 100 hours a week. It’s not a luxurious lifestyle. I have waiters; none of them drove here in a Ferrari today.”
And now they can open – but who decided that 25% capacity was the right number? why not 30% or 50%?
“Because compliance is better, we can now take the next step,” the governor said.
Additional restrictions would also be placed on restaurants and their patrons, including a requirement to wear face coverings when not seated.
Hellbound and Down 
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