" ... Research commissioned that July by the firm Kekst CNC showed how far public perceptions about the pandemic had been skewed, finding they were inclined to believe the spread and fatality was more than a hundred times worse than the reality.
For example, the average Briton was found last month to estimate that the disease had wiped out as much as 7 per cent of the United Kingdom, which would equate to around 4.6 million people, rather than the actual rate in the tens of thousands. They estimate just over 22 per cent of the population have had Covid-19, which at just over 14.6 million people would be well over the current confirmed case tally of 322,000.
“When people estimate risk, they overestimate it massively,” says King College London’s Professor Neil Greenberg, who works with Public Health England as part of the Health Protection Research Unit for Emergency Preparedness and Response. “We are very poor as a public at estimating what risk really means.”
That does not mean the threat posed by Covid-19 can be summarily dismissed, but experts are keen for a sense of proportion.
Prof Udi Qimron, the incoming head of clinical microbiology and immunology at Tel Aviv University, recently highlighted that 99.9 per cent of the world's population has so far survived the virus, as the total number of coronavirus deaths does not exceed 0.1 per cent of the total population anywhere around the world. (See the table below for the latest data on European deaths)
Nervousness? Apprehension? Nah! Not in the US. Here it is just plain old gutlessness. We are not the people our ancestors were. pl
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/22/hysteria-dangerous-coronavirus-symptom/
https://twitter.com/amlivemon/status/1297532424700796930?s=21
As this article in the Daily Mail notes Sweden’s policy worked as well as the lockdown policy without the economic destruction.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8652523/No-lockdown-no-hysteria-DOMINIC-SANDBROOK-asks-Sweden-proof-got-terribly-wrong.html
Col. Lang is correct. “We are not the people our ancestors were.” We are an afraid people. We wouldn’t otherwise trade our liberty for the false security of mass surveillance, government propaganda, and this lockdown that continues. Sad!
Posted by: Jack | 23 August 2020 at 01:06 PM
I wonder if you would be interested in publishing this excellent short article on the stoic and highly-principled tank commander, Heinz Guderian??
He may have fought on the wrong side, but he fought bravely and honorably.
https://www.unz.com/gdurocher/general-heinz-guderian-on-hitler-and-leadership/
Posted by: Mike Whitney | 23 August 2020 at 01:36 PM
As Albert Camus wrote in The Plague: potentially deadly events like this give some people their sole reason for living. And the cure, for them, becomes fatal.
Posted by: Deap | 23 August 2020 at 04:07 PM
Hi Colonel, this is totally unrelated but I thought that you would find this Houthi video that I saw off of Al Masdar interesting:
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/watch-ansarallah-operation-to-eliminate-isis-leader-of-yemen/
Shows the Houthis wiping out the main IS bastion in Yemen earlier in the week. Prisoners treated well, they wouldn't be treated like this in Syria/Iraq or in any country where franchises exist.
Posted by: Serge | 23 August 2020 at 06:10 PM
The risk is relative. It is nil if you are not exposed to a coronavirus shedding person. If you must work with the public to get paid, live in a multi-generational household, or are over 70 the risks of getting ill and dying are greater. Coronavirus has killed 180,558 Americans to date which is almost five times more than the 36,750 who died in automobile accidents last year. The virus is the third leading cause of death in America after heart disease and cancer. The is no national coordination and funding to test every American daily to see who is ill and who is not. Without universal testing there is absolutely no way to know the risk of going out the door. With testing and agreement by the American public to isolate if the daily antigen test positive and receive government healthcare, the pandemic can be ended without needing a vaccine. This would require healthcare for all and a working government which the ruling elite are absolutely against. Although the costs of the national testing program are less than the amount already lost in economic activity from the Pandemic Depression.
The basic problem is the US public health system was dismantled so for-profit hospitals and professional managers could extract wealth from the ill. Money is earned by treating the patients not curing them. Employee based health insurance by design does not cover everyone leaving a hodge-podge of government programs; the VA, Medicare, Medicaid and local programs for the left-overs. The current US system is simply incapable of containing the pandemic. Only a functional government like New Zealand or South Korea can.
The US federal government decided to do nothing and wait for a for-profit vaccine next year. 300,000 Americans are projected to die this year. If there is no vaccine or treatment, the death toll from coronavirus could reach 675,000 - the number who died of the Spanish flu in the USA in 1918 and 1919 (but with a 1/3 fewer people). No big deal for Wall Street who got 4 trillion dollars to keep charging upwards; unless, the unrest continues and expands.
Posted by: VietnamVet | 23 August 2020 at 07:14 PM
What I read in Swedish media does not correspond well with what I see reported by others, usually from outside of the country. Sweden has done worse than its close neighbors Norway and Finland and they are paying a rather steep economic price for their inaction. Regarding Florida, where I live, the infections are not receding yet and we have yet to see what will happen with opening the schools. I suspect the misinformation has a political purpose. There are more people in Florida wearing masks now, mainly due to local municipalities requiring them and that is positive. Some think that is a political issue, failing to realize it is an IQ test.
Posted by: Lars | 23 August 2020 at 08:09 PM
lars
You see what you want to see in the press depending on what you choose to read. Yes, lefties like you always want to talk down to people. You are typical. Why are you darkening my door again?
Posted by: turcopolier | 23 August 2020 at 08:23 PM
Escarlata
You should go out and get a job in which you would work for your own money and stop letting daddy take care of you like a little girl.
Posted by: turcopolier | 23 August 2020 at 08:25 PM
vietnamvet
Judy Miller the journo queen used to tell me that I am a gloomy gus, but I am nothing compared to you. When did you last have a positive thought? Was it painful?
Posted by: turcopolier | 23 August 2020 at 08:30 PM
Lars,
Your information seems to be out of date or terribly localized. The discontent with the face burka mandate is increasing, though there's nothing stopping you from wearing one 24/7.
"Florida reported 4,300 new cases Saturday, continuing a downward trend that has seen the number drop from above 10,000 new cases per day a month ago."
"Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have also been declining. "
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/08/23/florida-health-officials-report-fewer-than-3000-new-coronavirus-cases-51-deaths/
https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-world-attendance-plummets-80-even-as-florida-cases-decline-2020-8
Posted by: Fred | 23 August 2020 at 08:38 PM
vietnamvet
The US national collective death toll is about .05% thus far. Can't handle that, eh?
Posted by: turcopolier | 23 August 2020 at 08:42 PM
Do a lot of work for family that owns funeral homes.
Way more suicides by 20 - 40 year olds than covid deaths in +70 age range.
Covid deaths were nursing home residents that were dead already but generating revenue for said homes.
Posted by: sbin | 23 August 2020 at 10:20 PM
The hysterical overestimation of risk is nothing new. Hell, polio cases and deaths were only a fraction of covid cases and deaths. We went bananas in looking for a cure for that. The worst over reaction in the US was to 9/11 and the whole phenomenon of terrorism. What a waste of blood, resources and hyperventilation, not to mention our reaction's effect on liberty and privacy. How many deaths and can be laid at the feet of antifa and BLM? Yet so many think these ne'er-do-wells will end our society. More senseless hyperventilation. Chill out. They won't destroy our way of life any more than the alt right/neo-nazi crowd. We will absorb the blows from all these dire threats, adapt and change. OTOH, our too often over hysterical reactions to these perceived threats are what drives our successful adaptions and progress.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 23 August 2020 at 10:36 PM
TTG
"How many deaths and can be laid at the feet of antifa and BLM?" Just a handful so far but their goal is to crack the national will as the Brown Shirts of the movement that your party has become. Your party is well on its way to destroying the America that we served. Did you actually not listen to that crap last week?
Posted by: turcopolier | 23 August 2020 at 10:42 PM
Rank by state of Corona Deaths, per 1 million population, USA
1 New Jersey 1,807
2 New York 1,695
3 Massachusetts 1,294
4 Connecticut 1,251
5 Louisiana 1,021
6 Rhode Island 972
++++++++++++++++++++
Rank by country of Corona Deaths, per 1 million population, world [and proportion of population killed by virus]
1 San Marino 1,237 [0.001237]
2 Belgium 861 [0.000861]
3 Peru 837 [0.000837]
4 Andorra 686 [0.000686]
5 Spain 617 [0.000617]
6 UK 610 [0.000610]
7 Italy 586 [0.000586]
8 Sweden 575 [0.000575]
9 Chile 567 [0.000567]
10 USA 545 [0.000545] [or 0.0545 percent]
++++++++++++++++++
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
PS
PS
Please keep in mind that USA death counts are inflated.
By how much? Nobody knows. Why is that?
[[There are financial incentives that might make a difference for hospitals and doctors. The CARES Act adds a 20% premium for COVID-19 Medicare patients. Birx and others are also concerned that the CDC’s “antiquated” accounting system is double-counting cases and inflating mortality and case counts “by as much as 25%.” When all these anomalies are added up, it becomes apparent that we simply don’t have an accurate death toll from this new coronavirus. But it seems clear that the correct rate is just a little worse than the rate for the 2017-2018 flu]]
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/05/29/us_covid-19_death_toll_is_inflated.html#!
-30-
Posted by: Jim | 23 August 2020 at 10:55 PM
TTG,
Welcome back! Glad to know the Trump supporters can now go out to a restauraunt with a MAGA hat without getting yelled at or the food spat upon. Store owners won't be having windows broken or contents looted nor will there be calls for transformational change we can believe in due to "systemic racism", mandatory unconcious bias training, giving up "white privelege" or paying repartations; or being called uncle Tom if you're black. Thank goodness. Did the orders come down from on high or is it just a pause since the cadres seem to be all trained up after 70+ days in Portland, Seattle, Chicago and few more blue havens? I ask since the reality sure doesn't match what you're saying, other than that "alt-right/neo-nazi" thing, as they seem to have disappeared from public view right after the press successfully launched the "fine people" edited video hoax after the march in Charlottesville. (Even the BBC called Biden out for that lie) I begin to think they were nothing more than paid actors engaged in a set piece play.
As a primer, since you might have missed a couple of weeks in reality land:
Porland: (1) https://www.foxnews.com/us/portland-protest-press-throwing-objects-police
(2) https://www.kusi.com/violent-mob-beats-truck-driver-unconscious-in-portland/
(3) https://nypost.com/2020/08/23/portland-cops-stand-by-as-protesters-clash-with-guns-smoke-bombs/
Chicago: - in memory of George Floyd:
(1) https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6180404984001
(2) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/10/crowds-clash-police-after-shooting-chicago/3333353001/
(3) Saturday 8 - 22: https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2020/8/22/21396941/bronzeville-chicago-police-officer-carjacked-gunpoint-25th-king
At least Mayor Lightfoot is guarded by armed police, unlike the majority of taxpayers
NYC: https://nypost.com/2020/06/03/what-the-streets-of-manhattan-look-like-after-days-of-riots/
No worries, that was June. Now NYC is just quarantined for Communism.
Denver: https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/23/denver-riot-protest-vandalism-police-hancock/
"We will absorb the blows from all these dire threats, adapt and change."
I'm not sure what your neighbors in Fredricksburg but I know a lot of folks who've decided the left is out for blood and destruction with the leadership giving free reign if not outright suport of all of this. When my former friends in the Democratic party push what it looks like they are going to push come November there'll be a hell of a lot of scores settled. That doesn't even include the risk of Biden and Co. making veiled calls, like Henry the second ""Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?", hoping that another James Hodgkinson will emerge and remove Trump for them.
Posted by: Fred | 24 August 2020 at 12:17 AM
Using Sweeden as a model as how to fight the pandemic is not quite what a few commenters here advocating for. Sweedes do practice physical distancing voluntarily without being told to do so.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/heres-what-happened-in-sweden-and-you-cant-compare-it-to-u-s
"“In terms of the mortality rate per capita from COVID-19, Sweden is not doing as well as the other countries nearby in Scandinavia that are similar but have approached the pandemic in a different way,” said Dr. Saahir Khan, assistant clinical professor of infectious disease at UCI Health in Orange, California."
"As of May 18, Sweden’s per capita death rate was 36 per 100,000, which is higher than the United States at 27 and neighboring Denmark at 9.
Over this past week [the article was dated Jun 4th 2020] Sweden also had the highest per capita death rate for COVID-19 in Europe."
Posted by: TonyL | 24 August 2020 at 12:39 AM
How many deaths can be laid at the feet due to the denial of hydroxycholoquine as first line therapeutic with the intent it can alter the course of the disease in positive ways for some people; but not cure it.
What role does the UCSF Medical School finding presence of gum disease ( which creates a systemic and chronic inflammation state) is related to the severity of the host reactions against a "covid" infection.
I buy none of the "covid death" numbers due to sloppy and intentionally misrepresented reporting. I suggest no mention of "covid death" number is presented without serious qualification:
---death with covid,
---death because of covid,
---death assumed to be covid,
---death unconfirmed exposure to covid,
---death with co-morbidities;
---death without co-morbidities.
#XYZ# "covid deaths" is balderdash.
Posted by: Deap | 24 August 2020 at 01:33 AM
Yes I am afraid the West, and America in particular, are in what Sir John Glubb termed the decadence stage of civilisation, if there were tribes of Manchus, Mongols or Goths on your border they would think we only need to kick the door in and we could takeover.
Posted by: LondonBob | 24 August 2020 at 05:13 AM
james
Politics is about division. A vote in the Commons in London is called a "division." You are so completely negative that i don't want you here. Go away.
Posted by: turcopolier | 24 August 2020 at 09:33 AM
My wife and I went to a new restaurant's Grand Opening yesterday and had a great time. The new owners are 3 old (almost elderly) guys that are millionaires. It's great as they've picked up about 35 employees who were out of work. The bad news is that some of our out of work restaurant folks are facing homelessness while Pelosi dithers about.
Laughing here, I didn't know this but was told about it yesterday. We have snowbirds here hiding in their homes who didn't go back up north last April. Oh well.
Posted by: BillWade | 24 August 2020 at 09:50 AM
Lars
As a Dane I would like to point out that there are structural differences between Sweden and Denmark when it comes to the economy.
Denmark produces a lot of medicine and food (butter/fish/pork) which sells in good and in bad times.
Sweden has a lot of consumer goods (electronics/cars) which are hard hit. Their customers keep a tight fist on the house hold spending. As for restaurants, hotels and night club etc. there does not appear to be a big difference. Swedes have stayed at home of their own free will. Danes ditto but based on government orders.
A plus for Sweden which funny enough is rarely mentioned is that Sweden have not paid out huge state subsidies to various private businesses.
Care to guess how Denmark's economy would look if you removed the subsidies for industries, hotels, restaurants etc which enables them to keep staff on the pay-roll?
Posted by: Poul | 24 August 2020 at 10:41 AM
TonyL,
"As of May 18" and "Over this past week [the article was dated Jun 4th 2020"
That was three months ago.
Posted by: Fred | 24 August 2020 at 11:02 AM
I've lost track of the number of restaurants I've dined in since the start of this pandemic. In my small/medium sized town in a rural county in Colorado, the effects of the pandemic have been far less tragic than we were originally led to expect. Ou relatively few tragic cases did and do make us sad when we think about them.
We are polite people and concerned about our fellow citizens. We all carry masks and wear them to enter stores or restaurants. At restaurants, we take them off once we are seated.
Our sidewalks are not crowded, even in the downtown area. Most people walking outside do not wear maks while walking. Now that it's summer and breathing into a mask makes breathing harder, it becomes ridiculous to think of wearing a mask while walking outside.
I am so very happy that, despite our looney left liberal governor, we have not felt the need to shelter inside or cover our faces at all times while outside. Just thinking to ourselves, "Well, he's from Boulder; so what else can he be expected to say?"
I become more and more thankful that I don't live in the "important" large cities on the East and West Coasts, or even those other "important cities" situated in the Midwest and in other flyowver states.
I would be a nuerotic mental case by now if I had been forced into following all the rules meant for "my own good." I become very annoyed when I follow national politics and realize that I and so many of my fellow "flyowver" citizens aren't really included in the national discussion about this pandemic. But then I realize that if I were included, I would have little to say but to expess my hope that the topic will soon be a thing of the past.
Biden's promise to mandate mask wearing will, I feel, be the most important reason for many in this area to vote against him. His saying that made me realize that it's not only a possible early dementia hampering his thinking but also a definite Napolianic Complex governing his behavior.
We're patient, however; and we are easy-going enough to put up with some new rules--rules we hope will soon fade away.
I keep saying to myself that it's as if people didn't want Halloween to end and are just having fun wearing masks--sometimes.
Posted by: Diana Croissant | 24 August 2020 at 01:37 PM
People deferring care, due to covid panic, for conditions that they should not
https://www.cigna.com/about-us/newsroom/studies-and-reports/deferring-care-during-covid-19
another study by Aetna that backs up Cigna's findings
https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/how-have-healthcare-utilization-and-spending-changed-so-far-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/#item-percent-change-in-personal-consumption-expenditures-by-product-type
Psychiatric medication use is up
https://www.cigna.com/about-us/newsroom/studies-and-reports/americas-state-of-mind-report-2020
I thought lefties were all about Americans getting access to good healthcare....well seems when there's a COVID hoax to be perpetrated, they don't care about the health impact to millions of Americans
Posted by: Eric Newhill | 24 August 2020 at 03:58 PM