Intriguing new Theory on Covid ......

....the Economist published an article today hypothesizing that Bats from area like Vietnam, which carry many Corona viruses, may be ground zero for the disease. These animals could then end up in wet markets via the sophisticated trade in exotic species....or end up there via intermediate species that have been infected.

The theory hinges on possible immunity against the disease in bat infested countries like Vietnam......which went through a weak lockdown....but has only registered 417 cases and 0 deaths in a country of 100 million people. Most of South East Asia has spectacular results suggesting some sort of immunity is at play.

The theory goes that the virus had to travel to a non immune area like central China to really flair up.....another way of saying the wet markets should be more strictly policed or closed down.

These observations support other findings that exposure to these viruses confer immunity through T cells, and suggest there may be wider immunity than believed. It also suggests that herd immunity can build rapidly in a population, consistent with the low rates of infection we are now seeing in places like NY, Italy and Spain which were being ravaged by the virus 3 months ago.

 This has been ascribed to distancing practices, but may have more to do with local immunity. Perhaps a reason why new areas are now the epicenter for the disease.

There is a lot we still have to learn about this virus and our 19th century epidemiologists are still stumped.

We were lucky wigh smallpocks, but AIDS is still basically incurable after 40 years...Covid is luckily curable, so it should be much easier to treat it much more effectively than when it started spreading. 

Further evidence.....Sweden’s new cases now dropping dramatically. Very sad they never protected the nursing homes. But if a vaccine doesn’t come Sweden may yet be proven right.

Sweden has improved.

Florida still part of the US issue.... but 356086 of 461379 Florida cases are in Democratic counties......77% of all Florida cases. I’m fairly sure the numbers would be the same in other hot spot areas, California, Arizona and Texas...but it’s a pain doing the stats.

This doesn’t say Democrats are less competent, they are simply in urban areas. The virus ignores political distinctions and right now young people in cities are getting the disease...except where it has burned through like New York. 

In Sweden with no lockdown Covid killed 0.002% of total population in people under 60.

90% of their deaths are people over 70.

From Reuters in May: In Sweden, the pandemic has caused around 3,700 deaths since the first reported fatality in March, but has not been as deadly as some seasonal flu over the last three decades, when the toll in December 1993 and January 2000 was higher, the Statistics Office said.

I still believe Covid is a vastly overstated threat. The old and the sick are at high risk as they are from most mild to serious diseases. The rest, minimal to no danger.

"but has not been as deadly as some seasonal flu over the last three decades,  when the toll in December 1993 and January 2000 was higher, the Statistics Office said.

I still believe Covid is a vastly overstated threat. The old and the sick are at high risk as they are from most mild to serious diseases. The rest, minimal to no danger."

It is serious but not as unique as they make it out to be. They gave it a name of it's own and hyped it as the realization of the zombie apocalypse! It is not serious enough to destroy the economy to try and stop it....I'm very angry at the fools in charge of this country acting like our overlords...worse than the previous regime...passively doing more harm than the Apartheid Regime did actively...

Partly our own fault Draad. Why the alcohol-industry didn't push back against this last ban by the government I don't know. The taxis pushed back and got what they wanted.

If we keep jumping when government snaps its fingers, we have to accept whatever harm that causes because we are willing participants.

True...we should start burning tyres in the street...wait for the extra sin tax to pay for all the Covid-Corruption.

From the Times of India:

With the world on pause with coronavirus, Sweden’s unique approach has drawn intense global scrutiny, not all of it complimentary. It refused to impose tough lockdown, kept primary schools and core economic activities functioning, issued clear guidelines and relied on voluntary social distancing plus personal hygiene practices to manage the crisis. Chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell explained that lockdowns have no “historical scientific basis”. “Each country has to reach ‘herd immunity’ in one way or another, and we are going to reach it in a different way.” He told the BBC Sweden will be better placed than most European countries to face a second wave of the outbreak. In the past fortnight infections rose again across much of Europe, they stayed low in Sweden but the real test will be this coming winter.

The US media was harshly critical of Sweden’s approach: the New York Times (including a distortion-filled hit piece), Newsweek, USA Today, CBS News. Unlike bemused-cum-resigned Indians, Swedes are more used to being the cynosure of American attention than the object of censure. The media focussed on comparing Sweden’s Covid mortality rate to its better-performing Scandinavian neighbours, ignoring how Sweden was in the middle of the overall European pack. They refused to look at US states, including, in the case of the NYT, its home state/ city. As of Friday, Sweden’s death per million people was 576, compared to 557 for the US overall, with 14 states exceeding the Swedish rate including New Jersey 1,804, New York 1,696 (NY City 2,840), Massachusetts 1,296, Connecticut 1,252, Louisiana 1,048, and DC 857. Most of the mainstream media has been equally reticent about highlighting that 8 of the 10 US states with the highest mortality have Democratic governments.

Actually Covid has been very transmissable even in the Texas summer. But with the improved infectious disease habits, the flu season may see less transmission.

It’s hard to believe that social distancing is currently better in the NY ghettos than in Miami. It seems this thing burns through a city and then fades. Other areas flair up.

The epidemiologists are still being surprised and making false cause and effect connections. 

With the high death rate among elderly people that was very clear early on, it's inexcusable that relevant facilities were not sufficiently protected.