Peter, I love your posts. I do share your general Covid skepticism also.
However, in this case, there may be more to worry about than it may seem at first glance.
We, the USA and especially highly vaccinated Eastern states, are in the very beginning of the latest wave. We do not know YET how big it will be. If the UK, France and Italy are any indication, it may get big, especially in vaccinated cities.
Take a look at Central new York (select a selector to the right). Somehow they have a new variant ba2.12 that took over Central New York and this variant is hospitalizing people like crazy. The case numbers are almost meaningless at this point but the hospitalizations are alarming.
We, vaccine skeptics, do not have to be covid minimizers, especially at this point. It is the criminal vaccinators who want to hide their crimes and the terrible consequences thereof. The vaccinators are now minimizing covid, saying that it is mild thanks to vaccines, etc.
But it is not as mild and it kills immune cells with each infection. It gives long covid, heart problems etc to the vaxed people who have it repeatedly. We do not have herd immunity because of vaccines.
These same health science authorities also likely created this virus via reckless research, and they want to minimize Covid so as not to face responsibility for that.
WE, meaning you me and other vaccine critics, do not have to minimize Covid, although of course we must speak only the truth.
Statewide New York had an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations of 47 from April 18 to April 19. The hospitalizations per 100K is, per the New York official data, 7.18 as of April 19, with a 7 day average of 6.22.
~1400-1500 hospitalizations statewide for the third most populous state in the Union is a wee bit shy of "hospitalizing people like crazy", especially when COVID hospitalizations are a fraction of current spare capacity even AFTER recent declines in spare staffed beds.
Moreover, mortality is quite clearly NOT rising in proportion to the rise in cases.
Honestly at this point I don't even look at case numbers. We already argued that they are extremely sensitive and it made no sense to use them in asymptomatic people. I'm not sure why many of the PCR critics are now utilizing case rates as a measure- not to say you are doing it, but that other people appear to be doing so.
The raw numbers are pretty much useless. Trends are generally illuminating--with or without asymptomatic cases trends in cases provide context for hospitalizations and mortality.
I reference case numbers when commenting on the Pandemic Panic Narrative because that is the metric the media uses. I find it is more effective to debunk the narrative using their own data sets than to superimpose other data.
Within the context of deaths and hospitalization it does help to an extent. It is one of those things where people appear to be using cases to stoke fear and at this point it just becomes an annoyance seeing it being used two years in. I do appreciate that you are not trying to peddle fear, as it appears that people from all sides are starting to do this.
Peter, I love your posts. I do share your general Covid skepticism also.
However, in this case, there may be more to worry about than it may seem at first glance.
We, the USA and especially highly vaccinated Eastern states, are in the very beginning of the latest wave. We do not know YET how big it will be. If the UK, France and Italy are any indication, it may get big, especially in vaccinated cities.
You can look at New York hospitalization here:
https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/daily-hospitalization-summary
Take a look at Central new York (select a selector to the right). Somehow they have a new variant ba2.12 that took over Central New York and this variant is hospitalizing people like crazy. The case numbers are almost meaningless at this point but the hospitalizations are alarming.
We, vaccine skeptics, do not have to be covid minimizers, especially at this point. It is the criminal vaccinators who want to hide their crimes and the terrible consequences thereof. The vaccinators are now minimizing covid, saying that it is mild thanks to vaccines, etc.
But it is not as mild and it kills immune cells with each infection. It gives long covid, heart problems etc to the vaxed people who have it repeatedly. We do not have herd immunity because of vaccines.
These same health science authorities also likely created this virus via reckless research, and they want to minimize Covid so as not to face responsibility for that.
WE, meaning you me and other vaccine critics, do not have to minimize Covid, although of course we must speak only the truth.
Statewide New York had an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations of 47 from April 18 to April 19. The hospitalizations per 100K is, per the New York official data, 7.18 as of April 19, with a 7 day average of 6.22.
~1400-1500 hospitalizations statewide for the third most populous state in the Union is a wee bit shy of "hospitalizing people like crazy", especially when COVID hospitalizations are a fraction of current spare capacity even AFTER recent declines in spare staffed beds.
Moreover, mortality is quite clearly NOT rising in proportion to the rise in cases.
https://usafacts.org/visualizations/coronavirus-covid-19-spread-map/state/new-york
Perhaps next week the mortality will catch up to the case counts. Perhaps the hospitalizations will rise to match the recent Omicron BA.1 wave.
Perhaps.
Until it does the data is emphatic and unambiguous: BA.2 is less severe than BA.1. Omicron is less severe than Delta.
Remember, I'm much more than a vaccine skeptic. I'm a lockdown skeptic, a mask mandate skeptic, and a Pandemic Panic Narrative skeptic.
I am also a skeptic of "all of the above", but I do not think that Covid is very mild.
I know people with long covid, real issues.
As for mortality and cases: cases are very badly reported nowadays. Mortality follows illness with a three week lag.
Honestly at this point I don't even look at case numbers. We already argued that they are extremely sensitive and it made no sense to use them in asymptomatic people. I'm not sure why many of the PCR critics are now utilizing case rates as a measure- not to say you are doing it, but that other people appear to be doing so.
The raw numbers are pretty much useless. Trends are generally illuminating--with or without asymptomatic cases trends in cases provide context for hospitalizations and mortality.
I reference case numbers when commenting on the Pandemic Panic Narrative because that is the metric the media uses. I find it is more effective to debunk the narrative using their own data sets than to superimpose other data.
Within the context of deaths and hospitalization it does help to an extent. It is one of those things where people appear to be using cases to stoke fear and at this point it just becomes an annoyance seeing it being used two years in. I do appreciate that you are not trying to peddle fear, as it appears that people from all sides are starting to do this.