On February 7th, Stuff decided to run an article comparing the current COVID outbreak with the Spanish Flu of 1919. Here is the most interesting part:
As the coronavirus pandemic creeps into its third year, and the death toll in the United States reaches 900,000, the 1918 influenza pandemic can offer some insight into how this chapter of history might draw to a close. But an “ending”, when it comes to viruses such as these, is a misleading word. Eventually, experts say, the novel coronavirus is likely to transition from a deadly and disruptive pathogen to a milder, more seasonal nuisance.
In the meantime, though, experiences a century ago suggests that we could be in for a lot more pain – especially if we let our guard down.
The 1918 flu lasted far beyond 1918. Two years after it began, just as officials such as Copeland were declaring victory and cities were easing restrictions, a fourth wave hit parts of the country, bringing punishing caseloads that pushed some hospitals to the brink of collapse and left many more Americans dead.
Stuff
Are you terrified yet? You are meant to be. Comparing the Spanish Flu, which was an H1N1 variant, otherwise known as Swine Flu, to a SARS-COVID outbreak is like comparing apples and pears. They are completely different. Then throw in a few useful dimensions, such as the fact that the Spanish Flu appeared just as the First World War was coming to an end and there were vast troop movements all over the world; that hospitals were nothing like the ones we have now and that medical science was simply nowhere near as advanced as today – they didn’t even have insulin in those days. Now I think we are comparing apples and bricks… but they need to keep everyone scared, and therefore compliant.
And then there is this:
We all know Omicron is mild. I know a few people who have had it and it really is just a cold. But the ‘experts’ who are enjoying the attention they are getting do not want their moment in the sun to end. So they just make stuff up and terrify people.
On Friday, we had a record number of cases, at 446, and on Saturday, a new record of 454. But as of Saturday, there were only 27 people in hospital with COVID. Having been told we would have 50,000 cases by Waitangi Weekend (a week ago now), even new record numbers of cases pale in comparison to the ridiculous modelling and scaremongering that is going on.
Forecasters estimate more than one million New Zealanders will be infected with Omicron and hundreds will die within the next few months, as the Prime Minister warns the country to “prepare for winter”.
More scaremongering. No one knows how many people will catch it, and we certainly don’t know how many people will die from it, but we have to keep up the pretence that the restrictions that we continue to live under are justified.
And then there is the ‘expert’ Rod Jackson who claims that 15 million people have died of COVID when the official figure is 5,818,354. But our ‘expert’ knows best, of course.
Worldwide, there have been more cases of Omicron reported in the last 10 weeks than all cases of Covid-19 reported last year.
Covid-19 has killed an estimated 15-20 million people (the officially reported five to six million deaths is known to hugely underestimate the real number of deaths).
Infection has provided some immunity to the many hundreds of millions, who were fortunate to survive, but many millions are still suffering long Covid and we have no idea how many will recover.
NZ Herald
Do you see what I mean? He just makes it up as he goes along. Our current number of 53 deaths includes someone who was shot in the street in Auckland – but was put down as a COVID death. It seems to me that the official figures are more likely to be overstated than understated.
Who are these clowns? None of them is ever held to account for their scaremongering and gross over exaggerations. Overseas media try to hold their own ‘experts’ to account – but not here.
Every night, the TV1 News starts with an ominous message. COVID cases are ramping up; this is very serious and we are breaking all previous records. We must not allow the hospitals to become overwhelmed. But after hearing this for over two years, and seeing nurses making Tiktok videos because they had nothing to do on the wards, you have to wonder who exactly we are saving the health service from. Might we be saving the health service from sick people? It certainly looks that way.
Every day, I hear from friends who say they no longer read the mainstream media or watch the news. These are not conspiracy theorists, they are ordinary Kiwis: joiners, plumbers, mechanics, IT workers, government employees… nice, normal people, who just want to get on with their lives and who see that they are being lied to.
The government and their pack of media lapdogs fail to see that the great unwashed have seen through them and no longer believe anything they say. Jacinda’s rule is in tatters. And the more pushback there is, as we have seen with the Freedom protesters at Parliament, the more desperate and despotic the government and its cohorts become. They will not win this battle. They are done for.
