Month: August 2020

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q7oqRawiE0g This weekend I went to Berlin to attend a protest entitled “Berlin invites Europe – Festival for freedom and peace” organised by Querdenken, an organisation based in Stuttgart, who organised several protests with the aim of “reinstating fundamental rights and repealing the COVID-19 restrictions”. Before attending the protest, I visited the Berlin Story Museum to see an exhibition called “How could it happen?” about Hitler’s rise to power, and the horrors of the Nazi regime. We were instructed to wear masks at the entrance – and we meekly complied. However, the bunker was very hot and I found it difficult to breathe, so while no one was watching and no other tourists were nearby, I let the mask slip under my nose. About three minutes later, an enormous, grey-haired security guard charged into the room, put himself between me and the information I was reading (much closer than 1.5 metres), and glared down at me. He informed me that he had seen that my mask was not covering my nose through the security cameras he had been monitoring, and that this was against the museum’s policy. I was so intimidated by this giant masked man appearing three inches from my face, that I was left speechless, took a few steps back, apologised and obeyed. That all this happened in ...

UK's Covid death toll rises by ONE In spite of all the hysterical talk of a 'second wave' this Winter and rising cases in England, the number of people who died in Britain on Sunday was precisely one. The Mail has more. The country's death toll is remaining low as just one person died after testing positive for the disease bringing the UK's total fatalities during the pandemic to 41,499.Figures on Sunday are usually smaller due to a delay in processing over the weekend.There were no new deaths in Scotland for the fourth consecutive day. Wales and Northern Ireland each had no new fatalities for the third straight day.Scotland reported 123 new cases, taking the total number of positive infections to 20,318. The Mail says that 1,715 people tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, the biggest daily rise in 12 weeks. But the death toll continues to fall. And 40 B&H Please A reader has an amusing story. A surreal scene, recounted to me by my elderly neighbour as he queued to pay for his groceries at the local store.The chap ahead of him (fully masked up) got to the till and said to the girl at the checkout “and 40 B&H please…”It’s a strange world we live in! Perhaps the chap had heard that smokers are at a lower ...

Largest Anti-Lockdown Demo So Far The pictures from yesterday's anti-lockdown demo in Trafalgar Square are quite impressive. Some reports put the turnout at 35,000. The Express was one of the first newspapers to report on the protest. Pictures of the large crowds show people holding signs that read “coronavirus is a hoax”, “no to mandatory vaccines” and “masks are muzzles”.One person has claimed it is the largest anti-lockdown protest to date.The large numbers of protesters have filled the area beneath the National Portrait Gallery.Very few of those in attendance appear to be wearing face coverings.A flyer for the event said the protesters would be joined by "top professional doctors and nurses speaking out".Jeremy Corbyn’s brother, Piers, is also due to make an appearance at the event. The Express report was more even-handed than the report in the Metro, which began: Thousands of coronavirus-deniers have gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square to protest against lockdowns and vaccination programmes. And the Mail was even worse, headlining its report of the protest: "More than 10,000 COVID conspiracy theorists gather in London as police arrest Jeremy Corbyn's brother Piers AGAIN: Huge crowd of anti-vaxxers led by David Icke gather to argue that virus is a lie spread in secret global plot organised by Bill Gates". A reader emailed me to tell me his impressions after ...

Hospitals "Like the Mary Celeste" Given that there's a cancer care backlog predicted to cost up to 30,000 lives and NHS waiting lists have exceeded 15 million, the news of empty hospitals will come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the catastrophic conversion of the NHS into a National Coronavirus Service. The Telegraph has the story. NHS surgeons are only working at around 50 per cent capacity, the president of their Royal College has revealed, despite record waiting times for crucial operations.Official figures show that more than 50,000 people have waited a year for treatment – up from 1,117 a year ago.It comes amid concern about a surge in positive Covid cases, with daily records showing 1,522 cases, up from 1,048 the day before. However, weekly figures show the first decline for six weeks, despite rises in the numbers being tested.The vast majority of NHS surgery and other routine treatment was stopped for months during lockdown. But medics said efforts to restore services are moving too slowly, with some likening their hospitals to “the Mary Celeste” because so many patients were being kept away.Prof Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said the NHS was struggling to restore services, with a lack of routine testing for NHS staff hindering efforts to create “Covid-free” zones.Prof Mortensen, who took ...

Mass Gatherings Back On in Sweden Swedish epidemiologist Agners Tegnell – not all superheroes wear masks Another step back to normality for the country that brazenly refused to lock down. Reuters has the story (hat tip Alistair Haimes): Swedish concert goers and soccer fans can be allowed back in venues from October after the country’s Health Agency accepted a government proposal to raise the limit for some events to 500 from the current 50. With the number of new infections and COVID-19 deaths falling in Sweden, the government said last week it planned to introduce exceptions to the 50-person maximum for events from Oct. 1. In March, Sweden limited public gatherings to 50 people to halt the spread of the virus, effectively preventing theatres, soccer clubs and concerts from being able to bring in revenues from the public. “The proposal relates to events where there are numbered seats,” the Agency’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told reporters, adding that people should be seated at least one metre apart. He said the effects of the changes would be evaluated “and if it works well, the limit can be raised”. The ban on gatherings over 50 was one of the few social distancing measures Sweden made compulsory – though at least Swedes could still gather in groups of up to 50 throughout the ...

The use of face coverings by the general public to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has become the most visible sign of the coronavirus pandemic, constantly reminding us that things are not normal. The idea behind the use of face coverings is that because a large number of COVID-19 sufferers (the majority?) have mild to no symptoms, wearing a face covering will prevent these individuals from inadvertently infecting others. Current evidence is that COVID-19 is transmitted via two main routes: respiratory droplets and surface contact. Face coverings are assumed to be effective at capturing respiratory droplets, which is the rationale for their use. But what about their impact on transmission through surface contact? The aim of face coverings is to prevent an asymptomatic individual from infecting others. For such an individual, their face covering would become saturated with respiratory droplets containing coronavirus and in fact, the more effective the face covering, the more virus it will have captured. So if an infectious individual touched their face covering, they would potentially be contaminating their fingers with coronavirus…which they could then transfer to the next thing they touched – like a door-handle, handrail or table. Although such an individual could have still contaminated their hands and the environment whilst not wearing a face covering, the fact that the face covering has ...

Getting Schoolchildren to Wear Face Masks is Impractical The Spectator has published a great piece by Calvin Robinson, the teacher who featured in a recent job advertisement put out by the Department for Education. He thinks it's completely impractical to get schoolchildren to wear face muzzles. Has anyone who is recommending the use of masks in schools ever spent any significant amount of time working with young people? It seems unlikely.Children simply will not wear their masks correctly, if at all. Girls will constantly be adjusting them; boys will be flicking them across the room and pulling each others’ elastic bands. They’ll all be pulling them down to their necks at break time, resulting in pieces of food and drink being spilt inside. That, and the fact that they’ll be wearing them around their necks, mirroring the behaviour of adults they see on public transport, further trapping bacteria. If anything, face masks will be detrimental to the health of young people.Of course, there is much to be debated about whether face masks are beneficial at all, with the deputy chief medical officer, Jenny Harries, recently announcing that they may, in fact, increase health risks. I’m not a medical expert; I’ll leave the science to the professionals. What I do know is that masks will not work in a school environment. ...

After writing my "Postcard from Brazil", I realized it would be very difficult for most of my fellow lockdown skeptics to check my numbers about the progress of CIVID-19 in Brazil, as this information is generally only available in local Portuguese language media. The western press corp of propagandists are completely obsessed with Brazil being a bubbling cauldron of death and despair, and actually doing any investigation on the issue would result in stepping outside the official narrative. Can't have that! I wanted to do my part to bring some alternative information on South America to a Western audience. I'll link to the local articles for proof, but they are in Portuguese and most are paywalled. See what you can do. The fact is, the story of Brazil and Covid is a fascinating one. I think it leads to some interesting conclusions about immunity, lockdowns, and individual freedoms. CliffsNotes: immunity is important, lockdowns don't work, and freedoms are worth dying for – but we already knew that. Recent history lesson. In Brazil, the first states affected by Covid were São Paulo, Rio De Janeiro and Amazonas. Rio and São Paulo are epicentres of tourism with multiple daily flights to Europe, and big Italian diaspora populations. They are also very dense states with multiple large cities. Amazonas is a strange one. ...

Yet Another Bloody U-Turn "No but, yeah but... What does Nicola Sturgeon say?" Boris often sings the praises of the first-class education he received at Eton and Oxford. But the most valuable lesson he ever received was when he was taught to drive. After all, that’s where he learnt how to do a U-turn. The Prime Minister has now performed so many reverse ferrets he’s in danger of swallowing his own tail. Yesterday brought news of his latest pirouette – on face masks in schools. Since he returned from his camping holiday in Scotland, Boris has been on a mission to persuade parents it’s safe to send their kids back to school. "The risk of contracting COVID-19 in school is very small and it is far more damaging for a child’s development and their health and wellbeing to be away from school any longer,” he said on Sunday. But now he’s changed his mind – apparently influenced by Nicola Sturgeon's decision to make face coverings mandatory in Scottish secondary schools. Henceforth, kids aged 11 and older will have to wear masks in local lockdown areas. Not so safe, then. Talk about mixed messages! The Prime Minister’s default response whenever he’s asked a question of vital national importance is to launch into his Vicky Pollard impression: “No but, yeah but…” Let’s be ...

Sturgeon Makes Masks Mandatory in Schools – Boris Urged to Follow Suit Nicola Sturgeon has made face masks mandatory in Scottish secondary schools and now Boris is facing calls to do the same. The Telegraph has more. Boris Johnson is under fresh pressure to introduce face masks in schools after Nicola Sturgeon signalled over-12s will be made to wear them in Scotland.Teaching unions called on the Government to review its guidance on face coverings, which currently says they should not be worn in schools, although ministers said they had no plans to do so.It came after the World Health Organisation and the UN children's agency Unicef advised that children aged 12 and over should wear face coverings in the same conditions as adults, particularly where they cannot guarantee at least a one metre distance from others.Ms Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, launched an immediate review of practices in Scotland (where the school term has already started) and is expected to announce that over-12s will have to wear coverings in corridors and other communal spaces.The Association of School and College Leaders immediately said Mr Johnson should follow suit, putting the union on a collision course with the Government just days before children in England return to their classrooms. Let's hope Boris withstands this pressure. Sage member Professor Rusell Viner said ...