SARSCoV2 “outbreak” on isle of Barra in Scotland


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  • #65095 Reply
    N_
    Guest

    Seems about 10% of the population of the island of Barra have been ordered to self-isolate.

    “Until now Barra was untouched by the virus,” says the scribe of that page. Bad reporting. There’s no way anybody could know that, given that the number of people who have been infected by SARSCoV2 is obviously bigger than the number who have tested positive. (That difference is obscured by the use of the sensationalist term “outbreak”.) How many of the 27 were actually infected more than five days ago? Journalists who understand what makes a virus different from an illness seem few and far between. That said, there’s obviously some kind of “situation” on Barra and it will be interesting how it develops. If the authorities cut the island off, anything could happen. Good vibes to everyone who lives there!

    (Mods: I would have posted this to the main SARSCoV2 and Covid-19 thread but it was closed.)

    #65096 Reply
    mods-cm-org
    Guest

    Thanks for that, N_

    It’s a good idea to create new threads for specific topics, as it helps to keep the conversations focused.

    #65105 Reply
    SA
    Guest

    I know it is against the rules to criticise decisions by the mods, and this is not my intention. The forum SARS Cov2 and Covid-19 was started by me on the second week of March and became a sort of chronicle of what has been happening. Recently it was invaded by covid deniers and Trump fans with a general lowering of the tone. It seems to me a bit unfair on those of us who discuss rationally to suddenly be deprived of this forum because of those causing the disruption and although a new topic can be started, it will not have the solid history of the old one. That is of course also dependent on the website mechanics. The forum has now exceeded 1200 comments and may have become unwieldy and for that reason maybe we could start mark 2. In writing all this I am aware that this is a very valuable service provided voluntarily by Craig to us readers of his blog and for this we are extremely grateful

    #65106 Reply
    Clark
    Guest

    N_’s link is to an article at Hebrides News .com. If you go to the home page, you will find that the outbreak on Barra has a history, dating back to at least 7 Jan 2021. I have included a headline about bird flu to avoid being accused of bias by covid denial conspiracy theorists.

    • New Covid case reported in Western Isles
    • Local Covid cases retested
    • Health board boss addresses Covid-19 rumours
    • Three Western Isles coronavirus patients in hospital
    • Covid cluster confirmed on Barra as third resident contracts the virus
    • St Brendan’s Hospital and Care Home closed to visiting in bid to prevent Covid-19 spreading on Barra
    • ‘Covid-19 death in Western Isles’ reported in error
    • Over 1500 islanders vaccinated against Covid-19 so far
    • “Stay at home” appeal as eight more islanders test positive with coronavirus
    • Barra sports centre closed in response to virus outbreak on island
    • Bird flu found in Western Isles swan
    • Nearly 90 people isolating in Barra virus outbreak
    • Barra covid swab test results delayed
    • Shopping advice during the Barra outbreak
    • Covid testing of close contacts starts on Barra in bid to stem outbreak
    • Islanders caught flouting Covid rules
    • “Escalating and serious situation” as 27 people infected with Covid-19 on Barra within just five days
    #65113 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    Rather than harmful lockdowns, masks and self isolation, why not propose things that actually work like herd immunity and therapeutics, as there are millions upon billions of viruses that we normally live with and survive and shouldn’t be used to impose a communist police state on behalf of the international drug cartels and 1%.

    The human cost of Protecting the NHS https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9149065/Savage-toll-coronavirus-pandemic-NHS-waiting-lists-revealed.html?ito=push-notification&ci=68496&si=18634492

    #65116 Reply
    Clark
    Guest

    Interesting link, Dave; following the web address it reads:

    ?ito=push-notification&ci=68496&si=18634492

    Which organisation is “pushing” these “notifications” to your device? They append it to the web address so that the Daily Mail’s server can compile statistic on which organisations are directing traffic to their site.

    #65117 Reply
    Clark
    Guest

    “why not propose things that actually work like herd immunity and therapeutics”

    Well that is the current policy, effectively, and it has already cost 87,000 lives in the UK. If you regard that as “things that actually work”, then you must approve of all those deaths. Do you?

    #65118 Reply
    Clark
    Guest

    See, the push notifications are for advertising. The Daily Mail is a successful business. It makes money by selling readers (ie. you, Dave) to advertisers. Other organisations drive readers to the Daily Mail by pushing notifications to people’s communications devices, and the Daily Mail needs to know how much this service is worth so that they can pay them appropriately.

    If this kills people, neither organisation care until the reduction in readership due to deaths outweighs the increase from those not yet dead. That’s neoliberalism.

    #65137 Reply
    SA
    Guest

    Dave
    Let us assume that you have mentioned amongst things that work, herd immunity, because you have seen or heard this explained and that you have therefore become convinced that it does. Could you please explain to me what you mean by herd immunity and how it could be achieved? Failing that, could you please post a link where this is discussed which has convinced you that this is the way to go?

    #65155 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    I know the Daily Mail operates click and bait, and carries the official narrative, but with a very large middle class readership they have to carry some honest news with guest columnists like Dr John Lee. I don’t know if the linked article is entirely true, but I don’t doubt there are millions of cancelled operations and appointments, with very long waits for elementary blood tests, and important letters held up for weeks under the new working from home arrangements.

    Respiratory viruses are an act of God (unless a bio-weapon from a Bill gates funded lab in China) and there is nothing you can to stop it passing through the population throughout the world (and according to the linked discussion New Zealand had it before they locked down), but the best you can do is take elementary safety precautions and develop therapeutics aka traditional medicine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-yNlkUR5n0&t=2485s

    I think its disingenuous, as usual, to the say the present Lockdowns aren’t working, because they’re not proper lockdowns, because it assumes shutting a garden gate can stop a wasp, it can’t because viruses are microscopic in size and can simply go wherever they please.

    So a lockdown can’t save lives, but it can cost lives, and so I would say the mortality figures, above those due to die every year from one thing or another, are due to the lockdowns which has wrecked mental/health and economy and crippled the NHS. Also at the start the elderly were deliberately killed to boost the numbers needed for the contrived panic.

    To be honest I think you are acting as a county lines drug pusher for the drug cartels/gangs, as the outcome will be a bankrupt NHS, ripe for privatisation, and subsequently sold to the drug cartels, who have fortuitously become extremely rich due to massive public funding, for vaccines, to save the NHS. I.e. Its a racket!

    #65159 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    @ SA

    To be honest I read items and then rely on elementary common sense and the “Negative Fact”. The reason herd immunity works is because, if it didn’t, humanity would never have survived since the beginning of time.

    Humanity and all creation has strong immune systems, just imagine you can lose a leg and it heals, its remarkable, and so the best medicine is finding ways to strengthen the immune system and that includes healthy eating, exercise and socialising in the sunshine.

    Vitamin supplements help as does medicine that ease symptoms as the body heals, and therapeutics that directly heal an illness. All things being suppressed by the government to facilitate mass vaccination on behalf of themselves and their donors.

    Albeit I think the virus is the smokescreen for a Banker heist and communist coup against democracy, and the experimental vaccines (not really vaccines, but called vaccines, to fool the public) are the drugs cartels pay-off for assisting a criminal enterprise.

    #65205 Reply
    SA
    Guest

    Dave:

    “To be honest I read items and then rely on elementary common sense and the “Negative Fact”. The reason herd immunity works is because, if it didn’t, humanity would never have survived since the beginning of time.”

    There is of course a grain of truth in that. Diseases emerge all the time and initially they may be lethal and individuals who have some better innate immunity survive and eventually there is adaptation and the disease kills fewer people. But the price in such naturally developing herd immunity is very high. In 1911, measles was first introduced into the Polynesian Island of Rotuma in a non-immune population. As a result the mortality rate from the virus was 12.8%, that is an eighth of the population. This had also previously also happened in Fiji in 1875 with a death rate of 20%. And that is eventually how natural herd immunity works, a high natural death rate until there is immunity in the surviving population or they are vaccinated. The death rate is not the only thing because those who survive also get very ill.
    Similarly with Covid-19, because there is no underlying immunity, everyone is susceptible to get the disease. After a year it is estimated that about 5% of the population had been infected with the virus, and we are not sure whether those who had the virus will be sufficiently immune in a few months or a year not to get it again. If we already have 87,000 deaths related to the virus when only 5-10% of the population had the virus then we could be taking about 10-20X 87,000 deaths if we allow natural herd immunity to take place. These are of course rough figures and the numbers may be much less, but still too high. Also for every person who dies maybe 5-10 also have serious disease and require hospital admission which would swamp the health services. In addition all of this itself will paralyze the economy anyway so there will really be nothing to gain. Vaccination would mean achieving immunity for more people quickly and without them being exposed to the virus.

    #65211 Reply
    Clark
    Guest

    Dave, you refer to “Respiratory viruses are an act of God” and you refer to “all creation”, which sounds like you have a Christian perspective, but in Christian tradition Jesus healed the sick, and encouraged others to follow his example of kindness.

    “viruses are microscopic in size and can simply go wherever they please.”

    Viruses can’t do anything on their own; they are not tiny animals. The particles that transmit infection between hosts are entirely inert, inanimate. They are borne within moisture droplets exhaled by the host, which float in the air for seconds or minutes, and once fallen adhere to surfaces.

    “you can lose a leg and it heals”

    It is easy to die from loss of blood from a severed limb; this is why in wartime a tourniquet is applied, and first aid training includes applying pressure to points that slow the bleeding until the wound can be closed.

    “healthy eating, exercise and socialising in the sunshine… Vitamin supplements… All things being suppressed by the government”

    Healthy food and vitamin supplements are available everywhere. Only socialising has been suppressed this time in the UK. Exercise was restricted to an hour last spring, but that was just stupid overreaction because they were so reluctant to apply restrictions that they left it too late.

    “there is nothing you can do to stop it passing through the population throughout the world (and … New Zealand had it before they locked down)”

    Yes, there were infections in New Zealand but none after two months of restrictions, and this proves that early lockdown can stop the spread, and even wipe it out.

    Restrictions work. Look at the graphs here:

    worldometers.info-coronavirus-country-uk

    Click the box for the seven day average, which smooths out the variation in the collection of statistics due to weekends. The UK restrictions ran from Nov 5 to Dec 2. You can see the drop in infections, and about two weeks later the drop in the death rate. When the restrictions ended, the infections and then the deaths increased again.

    No, I ain’t got no great love for the drug companies. They often refuse to sell their drugs in poor countries, or they charge prices those countries can’t afford. They’re like all other big companies; they do some useful things but only to make money, and they do evil things too like covering up side effects; vioxx killed more people through heart attacks than US service personnel died in the Vietnam war.

    #65212 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    An entirely new virus could be deadly for many, but there are many coronavirus, normally associated with milder colds rather than flu, and we all have some immunity to it, because we’ve all had the cold, so a new mutation isn’t entirely new to the body.

    We also have a very good health service, so have facilities, education and therapeutics to deal with illness, so again a new virus isn’t attacking a defenceless population. The government called it new as if this meant very dangerous, but all virus are new as they are mutating all the time.

    After incessantly propagandising covid-19, they’re loath to drop the term now, as they’ve had to promote a mutation to keep the scam going, but resist calling it Covid-20, but you know its a scam when the government want to terrorise the entire population to get ‘vaccinated’ despite there only being a 0.07% mortality rate, of mostly the elderly.

    A genuine concern for the old and vulnerable would be funding for adult social care rather that wasting billions on bankrolling a closed economy.

    #65213 Reply
    glenn_uk
    Guest

    What do you think is filling hospitals, Dave – a scam? You’re actually saying all medics are “in on it”, together with all administrators, funeral directors, coroners, ambulance workers etc. etc., in every country in the world?

    Could you please also source your information. I’m inclined to believe the world’s entire medical establishment before your assertions as an anonymous online poster. So if you want to be convincing, please show where you’re getting it from. If you’re just clowning about, of course, shame on you.

    #65214 Reply
    Clark
    Guest

    Dave, it’s a shame. I know that all the lies you repeat have been told; it’s a shame that you and many others believe them. It’s a shame you don’t know how to check them yourself.

    Governments that protected their people reopened their economies sooner. New Zealand’s restrictions were relaxed after only two months.

    Which countries have protected both health and the economy in the pandemic?

    #65217 Reply
    Kempe
    Guest

    The 0.07% death rate refers to the population as a whole, for those known to have been infected death rates around the world vary but in the UK 2.6% have died. This compares to less than 1% for normal ‘flu. There is also the matter of long term effects, the so-called ‘long Covid’. Of the five people I know who caught Covid in the spring two are still suffering, mainly general fatigue and shortness of breath, but as yet it’s impossible to know if they’ll ever fully recover.

    #65218 Reply
    ET
    Guest

    “An entirely new virus could be deadly for many, but there are many coronavirus, normally associated with milder colds rather than flu, and we all have some immunity to it, because we’ve all had the cold, so a new mutation isn’t entirely new to the body.”

    There are 4 coronaviruses that are/were endemic in human populations before Sars-Cov-2. There are numerous papers which show that people who have had any of these 4 can and do become reinfected, sometimes with the same strain, anywhere from 6 months to ten years later. That is one of the concerns with coronaviruses, that people who have been infected don’t have immunity from reinfection even with the same strain.

    “We also have a very good health service……..”

    Fortunately we do. Even with our first world medical care we are struggling to cope. You keep mentioning therapeutics, what exactly are you referring to? There are no specific to SARS-Cov-2 therapeutic agents except perhaps pooled human immunoglobulin treatment such as Trump received. All the other pharmacological agents used are non-specific and are mostly aimed at dampening the inflammatory response. Hence steroids.

    “After incessantly propagandising covid-19, they’re loath to drop the term now, as they’ve had to promote a mutation to keep the scam going, but resist calling it Covid-20, but you know its a scam when the government want to terrorise the entire population to get ‘vaccinated’ despite there only being a 0.07% mortality rate, of mostly the elderly.”

    The incessant propagandising was initially it ain’t that bad, sure it’s just a flu. Bojo pointedly shaking hands with everyone and joyfully pointing out that he did. What an idiot.

    “only being a 0.07% mortality rate, of mostly the elderly.”

    Dave you are being disingenuous here. If you take any cause of death, say cancer, and compare the numbers to the entire population then you will get miniscule figures. It is not meaningful to do that. Please read this post

    #65225 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    Yes 0.07% is for the entire population and is less than that once you untangle died WITH and died FROM covid. Its reasonable to use this figure as the government falsely say everyone is at risk as an excuse to vaccinate the entire population, and therapeutics have been suppressed, like hydroxychloroquine and zinc, in favour of vaccination.

    Except despite the hyperbole they say the vaccines are only 50>95% (after two doses) effective and may not be effective (why would they be) against the mutant stains, requiring ever more vaccines! Sherbet Lemons are equally effective, but far cheaper and sweeter.

    There is often confusion when English is used as a second language. Scam and hoax, as English is spoken as a first language, denotes a view of the official narrative, not whether parts of it are true. E.g. people are always dying, but the response is vastly disproportionate and makes no medical sense.

    #65226 Reply
    SA
    Guest

    Dave is just repeating all the nonsense from Yeadon, OffGuardian and others which have been rehearsed several times. He is not going to be convinced. He is using this forum just to continue disseminating false information and here we are all trying to refute this nonsense. He might wilt away if we ignore him. I personally will, it is a waste of time.

    #65227 Reply
    ET
    Guest

      The 5 leading causes of death England and Wales 2019

      No. of Deaths

      % of Total Deaths

      Dave’s mortality rate

      Dementia and Alzheimer disease

      66424

      12.50%

      0.11%

      Ischaemic heart diseases

      55064

      10.40%

      0.09%

      Chronic lower respiratory diseases

      31221

      5.90%

      0.05%

      Cerebrovascular diseases

      29816

      5.60%

      0.05%

      Malignant neoplasm of trachea, bronchus and lung

      29463

      5.60%

      0.05%

      England and Wales population 2019

      2019

      59,439,8400

      England and Wales Total deaths

      2019

      530,841

    Not going to allow that to pass Dave without pointing out how absurd it is to use that figure. I have calculated the new parameter, Dave’s Mortality Rate (DMR), for the 5 leading causes of death in England and wales for 2019 (because no covid). The DMR for covid-19 for the whole UK in 2020 is 0.116 the calculations shown in the post I linked above.

    So let me draw a conclusion from using Dave’s Mortality Rate. We are wasting our money. Lets not bother spending £34.7 billion a year on Alzheimers care because by the DMR it’s trivial. No need to worry about ischaemic heart disease or cerebrvascular disease either, that would have saved 110 billion in Europe. Dave’s Mortality Rate shows us there is miniscule risk, so why bother. Imagine, we could half our tax rates and no need for National Insurance to be paid.

    Seriously Dave, if you are going use a meaningless figure for one disease then you got to do the same for all. I hope you realise just how ridiculous it is to that method.

    #65228 Reply
    ET
    Guest

    Dammit :D, the table didn’t work. You can work it out I guess. If not here is the table. Sorry to Mods I thought it would post ok.

    #65229 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    No one has proposed a national lockdown in response to your list of leading causes.

    #65230 Reply
    ET
    Guest

    “No one has proposed a national lockdown in response to your list of leading causes.”

    That would be perhaps because none of them are transmissible, as in, you can’t catch them from others and therefore a totally useless measure to combat them. The point was to show the absurdity that arises when you use total deaths from a disease divided by the total population to give an estimate of risk. It is meaningless and by using that methodology I could say with much justification that we don’t need a health care service at all for any disease.

    @SA

    “might wilt away if we ignore him. I personally will, it is a waste of time.”

    Perhaps with Dave you are right but perhaps not with others who read this forum.

    #65231 Reply
    Kempe
    Guest

    @Dave, 20:59
    Mainly because none of them are contagious.

    To the best of my knowledge the effectiveness of sherbet lemons against diseases of any kind is 0%. A 50% effective vaccine halves the chances of death or long term effects so is well worth the effort. As for the new strains experts in the field say that current vaccines will be effective so let’s wait and see.

    #65237 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    Lockdowns aren’t effective against respiratory viruses either as they are microscopic and can be carried in the air and will eventually pass through the population. And even if you avoid one, another one will soon be along to get you.

    When the mortality rate is so low, anything is 95% effective, because its impossible to prove otherwise. Something would need to be almost 100% effective to be noticeably effective.

    #65248 Reply
    SA
    Guest

    ET
    The basic knowledge is totally lacking and the repetition nature of the nonsense is such that I think Dave is a troll. I find no other explanation. He has repeated this nonsense so often now and then he will next turn to the communist governments in the west and how the sun shines out of Trump’s a**e.

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by degmod.
    #65253 Reply
    ET
    Guest

    “Lockdowns aren’t effective against respiratory viruses either as they are microscopic and can be carried in the air and will eventually pass through the population.”

    Any virus whose route of transmission includes the airborne route indeed does travel in the air but only to a certain extent. The bloke coughing his lungs up down the pub may well infect you in the enclosed space and indeed the virus may hang about suspended in the air for a while and move about in the air currents. The bloke 100 yards from you in the park coughing his lungs out is unlikely to infect you. A virus must have a host hence the lockdowns are designed to prevent transmission by limiting the chances you are in an enclosed space with someone who is infected. Viruses don’t Hang about indefinitely.

    “And even if you avoid one, another one will soon be along to get you.”

    Yeah, perhaps but hopefully it will have a lower mortality rate.

    “When the mortality rate is so low………”

    So low as to be equivalent to the leading cause of death (it is actually higher if you go to 3rd decimal place) and higher than any of the other leading causes of death? You are doing exactly the same thing you accuse the “covid propagandists” of doing. Can I call it denialist propaganda? Look at the numbers Dave here. You are stating that we should just let Sars-Cov-2 alone and get on with our lives because by Dave’s Mortality Rate the risk is trivial. Tell me, do you equally think that we should suspend all effort on managing dementia and alzheimers disease because the risk is the same as Sars-Cov-2?

    @Mods
    Thanks for cleaning up my mess of a post. Sorry to have caused you that extra work.

    @SA
    I have my eyes wide open SA. Where I have the time I am still going to do my best to refute by argument what I see as wrong or manipulative. I may well tire of it eventually but I hope not. I may well get exasperated but I shall try not to be overwhelmed by that if it happens.

    ps. Bloody hell, the reCAPTCHA is out to get me. Now I have to play an audio clip and type in the words I hear, LMAO. Is Craig’s site really under that much pressure or are you folks having fun fiddling?

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by degmod.
    • This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by degmod.
    • This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by modbot.
    • This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by modbot.
    • This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by modbot.
    #65257 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    What lower than less than 0.07%? No I suggest spending to improve peoples lives, not torture as a cure, and with things that can help, bearing in mind the elderly will eventually die of something, and so therapeutics rather than “synthetic pathogens” dressed up as vaccines, with alarming side-effect reports from Norway, who have been ‘vaccinating’ the frail elderly.

    #65258 Reply
    ET
    Guest

    Source Dave please.

    #65262 Reply
    ET
    Guest

    Show me how you got to 0.07%. I did the calculation from all covid deaths in England, Wales, Scotland and N.Ireland as detailed in the relevant post. I contest the 0.07% figure and I ask you to show your derivation of it. What I suspect is the covid deaths from England and Wales alone are being used whilst the population figure of 68 million is taken from the UK as a whole but I could be wrong. Even if I were to accept the 0.07% Dave’s Mortality Rate 3 of the 5 leading causes of deaths in 2019 are less than that.

    #65264 Reply
    ET
    Guest

    Just to say the England and Wales population in 2019 was 59,439,840 (from ONS) not 59,439,8400. If you are checking my calculations keep that in mind. It’s just a typo and clearly England and Wales don’t have almost 600 million population.

    #65270 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    I’ve looked up latest figures showing UK population @ 68m and covid-related deaths @ 89,000. This gives a mortality figure for the entire population of 0.13% Its reasonable to give this figure as the ‘government’ want to vaccinate the entire population, multiple times. https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths

    These figures are not exact, but its far LESS THAN 0.13% because this figure conflates died WITH and died FROM and counts deaths from all causes, run over by a bus, as covid, if within 28 days of a Positive (includes False Positives) test.

    I think your giving a percentage of certain deaths as a percentage from all causes, but even if covid is high in the list, its still small as a percentage of deaths from all causes, and so a fixation on covid, resulting in the rest being downplayed, makes no medical sense and neither does banning the right of assembly, unless to serve another political agenda. STOP the STEAL!

    #65271 Reply
    SA
    Guest

    If someone does not understand what a denominator is for calculating mortality figures then there is no hope of a fruitful conversation. What you need is a basic lesson in mathematics and logic.
    Anyway this is turning into a fiasco and sadly Dave wins. Why because a decent discussion has now turned to repetitious and meaningless refutations of a robotic position which just keeps changing slightly in its parameters but without advance. This has ceased to be an intellectual discussion. And every single post in this forum apart from the initial two or three, is entirely off topic.

    #65272 Reply
    SA
    Guest

    Maybe the captcha should say: “I am not a troll”

    #65273 Reply
    Clark
    Guest

    “counts deaths from all causes, run over by a bus, as covid, if within 28 days of a Positive (includes False Positives) test.”

    Yeah but each person lives about 28,000 days, so the average chance of dying in the next 28 days is only 28 / 28,000, ie. about 1/1000th, so even if true it would barely make any difference anyway.

    Steph also already worked this out on another thread. The maximum difference she came up with by a completely different method was 14% ie. about one seventh.

    Dave, how long ago does your 0.07% figure refer to? ‘Cos I remember you arguing with me that 380 parts per million atmospheric CO2 concentration was trivial as the rising concentration passed 410PPM. You’re probably just out of date again; maybe you should work things out for yourself rather than believing stuff from whichever sources happen to reinforce whatever you already believe; that’s called confirmation bias:

    “Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values.[1] People tend to unconsciously select information that supports their views, but ignore non-supportive or contradicting information. People also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs. Everyone, including scientists and intelligent people, can be prone to confirmation bias. Confirmation bias cannot be eliminated entirely, but it can be managed, for example, by education and training in critical thinking skills.”

    #65275 Reply
    Clark
    Guest

    Covid might help kill off conspiracy theory. Last spring, in some places lots of people got infected and other places hardly any; after the first wave serology surveys indicated less than 6% had been infected at all. People who hadn’t encountered it could believe it was all a hoax, just something on TV and in the “news”.

    The “news” is constantly full of “other people’s disasters”; I think people become inured to it. Additionally the scale of reproduction ranges from small to tiny; we are presented with other people and their suffering literally in miniature, often as little as 1/100th or even 1/10,000th scale; is it so surprising that many viewers often trivialise other people’s suffering?

    But covid is touching more and more people’s lives now, and a greater and greater majority are telling the denialists to STFU; they’re understandably angry. Node sees this as conformity enforced by threat, but he lives way out in an area of low population density, mostly untouched by covid. So far.

    Conspiracy theory might be telling us something about how people relate to news. We use the same media to obtain fiction and non-fiction; there’s massive overlap in the production of each, and even some deliberate cheating. And mostly, “news” shows us something happening far, far away (just like the intro to a fairy tale). But covid will bring it to a friend or relative near you (as they say in the adverts).

    Sorry to say, but humanity needs the lessons covid is bringing us.

    #65276 Reply
    Clark
    Guest

    Hello Kempe, I haven’t seen you for ages. How are you?

    #65282 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    @ Clark – “counts deaths from all causes, run over by a bus, as covid, if within 28 days of a Positive (includes False Positives) test.”

    Yeah but each person lives about 28,000 days, so the average chance of dying in the next 28 days is only 28 / 28,000, ie. about 1/1000th, so even if true it would barely make any difference anyway.

    Initially there was no cut off date, until it was spotted, and of course if it didn’t make a difference they wouldn’t use it.

    #65284 Reply
    Dave
    Guest

    @ Clark

    “Steph also already worked this out on another thread. The maximum difference she came up with by a completely different method was 14% ie. about one seventh”.

    14%, so far more than 0.07%?

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