England Has Had Lower Rate of Covid Deaths Since ‘Freedom Day’ Than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, In Spite of Fewer Restrictions
Raghib Ali, a clinical epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge and a consultant in acute medicine at the Oxford university hospitals NHS trust, has a piece in the Guardian, of all places, arguing that Boris’s decision to end Coronavirus restrictions in England has been validated.
The first Omicron (BA.1) wave, beginning in December, showed us that it was possible to get over a peak without a lockdown. The second (BA.2) wave from March to April was the first time a wave peaked in England without any government-mandated restrictions, as all legal mandates ended on February 24th.
And because England chose a different path on restrictions to the other home nations (and other western European countries) during the Omicron waves, this provides a very good “natural experiment” to assess how much difference the varying levels of restrictions made. International comparisons do have limitations, but in the absence of better evidence to judge the effectiveness of Covid restrictions, such natural experiments provide a useful guide, especially in comparing the UK home nations, which have similar populations, age structures, climate/seasons, healthcare systems and population-level immunity to Covid.
I should stress that given the uncertainty of the evidence at the time, it was perfectly reasonable for the home nations to choose different paths – and the extra restrictions outside England had widespread public support. But what will perhaps be surprising to many is that England has actually had a similar rate of infection and a lower rate of Covid deaths during the Omicron wave – and since July 19th 2021, England’s “freedom day” – than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, despite having far fewer mandatory restrictions, and none after February 24th. This “natural experiment” shows that having more mandates did not lead to better outcomes.
There was also no significant difference in overall excess mortality across the home nations to the end of 2021. And England’s is now likely to be lower as – somewhat remarkably, given the Omicron wave – excess mortality is negative in England for 2022 so far, with the lowest age-standardised mortality rates (the best comparator to previous years, as it takes population ageing into account) since the series began in 2001.
Worth reading in full.
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Even the one NOT wearing a mask is an idiot!
How do you think he got where he is?
In a jerking marionette fashion.
Doing what’s known as ‘The Biden’.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I’m fairly sure the photo was taken at COP26. If only Bojo’s response to claims of AGW catastrophy matched his expression the country might be in a slightly place.
“this provides a very good “natural experiment” to assess how much difference the varying levels of restrictions made. International comparisons do have limitations, but in the absence of better evidence to judge the effectiveness of Covid restrictions, such natural experiments provide a useful guide,…”
Sweden !
This would be the Sweden where then population was not allowed to leave their country due to ‘Covid infections being out of control’, would it?
“To prevent the spread of COVID-19, a temporary ban on entry into Sweden for foreign nationals travelling from countries outside the EU/EEA was introduced in March 2020. It has been regularly extended and the current entry ban applies until 31 March 2022.”
https://www.government.se/press-releases/2022/03/sweden-to-lift-ban-on-entry-from-all-countries/
“The Swedish government’s approach has attracted controversy. The impact on the country’s healthcare system and its reported death toll have been far greater than in other Nordic countries, in part due to its unique strategy.
The pandemic has put the Swedish healthcare system under severe strain, with tens of thousands of operations being postponed, and only emergency and COVID-related care being available during a surge in the winter of 2020. Initially, Swedish hospitals and other facilities reported a shortage of personal protective equipment. Swedish hospitals were able to increase their intensive care capacity during the earlier stages of the pandemic, but Stockholm’s health system still became seriously overwhelmed during the winter surge, with intensive care bed occupancy reaching 99% by 18 December 2020 and the city experiencing healthcare staff shortages.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Sweden
Ah Sweden, the enigma that did nothing or did a lot depending on what side of the fence you sit on.
The country that did better than most but can only be compared to countries that seemingly did better.
What an absolute success and failure at the same time.
Sorry folks, but it’s true – Swedes were not allowed out of their own country as it was claimed Covid was out of control there. I saw the roadblocks for myself. And Finns and Norwegians were only allowed to enter Sweden if they drove straight across without stopping.
Given the choice between not being allowed out of my country, or not being allowed out of my house, I think I’d still have plumped for the Swedish approach.
It has been blindingly obvious since March 23 2020, that ALL the restrictions were completely pointless and made everything worse. It has only taken 2 years for many to finally wake up, but it is all too late.
Few have woken up to the fact the virus doesn’t even exist.
Some posters on here claim they and their relatives have definitely had ‘Covid’.
Does it exist or not? Nobody really knows.
Some people have said they’ve had the loss of smell and taste which is most peculiar and they’ve never experienced anything like it.
Others say “Where is this virus, I’ve been trying to catch it for over 2 years!”
Mike Yeadon says it does.
There you go again quoting statistics !!!
The Cult cares not, a sacred cow is a sacred cow, same as the safe and effective one !
One of these twits is wearing a builder’s mask. These are specifically designed to let exhaled particles out.
To be fair, if you believe that the coofs are a real thing, and that muzzles can stop an aerosol going in either direction, you should be more concerned about catching them, since that’s a pre-requisite to spreading them.
I actually have more[*] respect for loons wearing proper valved respirators than loons wearing bits of damp cloth or microplastic sheets.
[*] The scale is negative.
Cases! Lol.
Marvellous. When you start mincing over details at his level then you obviously have a problem with one of your cardinal virtues. Perhaps you are taking the piss in a rarefied way. We are talking about mass slaughter, especially of the most costly and it isn’t even subtle.
I’m glad that the rules were banished especially as they didn’t help at all. But I am not so optimistic about the idea that this pathogen has just vanished. I am not talking about the spread – this has already occurred. I mean the progress of the pathogen within the body. Not to mention the evolutionary pressure of vaccinating during a pandemic. It is far from over and it will become much much more nasty. And entirely because of our decisions. Look at a graph of the amount of time between outbreaks and lulls. The lulls are getting smaller. Make of it what you will.
You forgot to attribute all this to Geert Vanden Bossche, but a reasonable summary of his interview with Del Bigtree (The Vanden Bossche Warning.)
That’s true but he was saying it long before that. And if we accept the orthodoxies of our time in terms of evolution, then surely this should’ve been an obvious point that no one could’ve missed. It isn’t difficult to conceptualise – a creature that will fight to survive no matter what. Surely this should be obvious to our frame of reference. The issue is, how could such an understanding be dismissed from the start given that evolutionary theory forms a part of the understanding of the establishment.
That’s some serious sophistry. And, you still got caught with your hand in the cookie jar.
The virus has never been purified and biochemically characterised. To put it in simple language. It does not exist. Anyone who thinks it does after over two years of this farce…….
“I should stress that given the uncertainty of the evidence at the time, it was perfectly reasonable for the home nations to choose different paths”
No it wasn’t. The “uncertainty of the evidence” was only over the details of the course of the disease. There was no credible uncertainty in the evidence that the costs of the coercive countermeasures were hugely disproportionate to any possible gains.
Another reminder of the complete unsuitability of medical or healthcare professionals to making political decisions of this kind.
“– and the extra restrictions outside England had widespread public support.”
“Widespread support” based, as in other situations such as the Ukraine war, the BLM nonsense and the climate alarmist lies, on massive propaganda and manipulation, and active intimidation and repression of dissent.
The effect on the brain should not be discounted yet. Neurotoxicity shows up after a period, look at rabies. I didn’t get vaxxed and relied on herbal medicine but it did major damage to the upper area of my mouth which is only now starting to heal up after eight months. This is similar to heart tissue. I don’t know how we do it but we somehow need to grasp, encompass and destroy this enemy force. Just seeing it as it is.
A guy whom I’ve butted heads with many times over the last 2 years was back in today, still coughing and spluttering everywhere (he hasn’t been healthy in the last year any time I’ve seen him) and I mentioned some poor souls were still walking around supermarkets masked up. He said “I’m one of those, I don’t want my father to catch it”. Infuriating.
The mask wearers don’t seem to vbe particularly bothered abot the disposal of masks. I have worked in healthcare and this is one of the most important considerations in terms of hygiene. They are happy to throw them away everywhere. I have found a few in my front garden. This is not a noble mission. It is simply ‘fuck you all I care about is myself’.
Plastic straws get banned while the oceans are now awash with billions of non-biodegradable masks. Of course these clowns in charge care about your health and the environment. I wish I could escape this open air lunatic asylum. I cannot believe the levels of stupidity of the majority of the UK population.
You’re in good company!
The mask is absurd on eveyr level. To begin with it assumes that nano level particles are stopped by some sort of cloth mesh. Anyone who believes this is already mentally lacking. As if it stops the big naughty particles from spreading and they will always be big enough for us to catch them. I have known cowards all my life and they always behave in precisely this way. But in our culture there is very little emphasis on the realms of will and courage. So who can blame anyone for overlooking these things.
I’ve said it before – and I’ll say it again.
What a privilege it is to be alive to witness Clown World develop.
What the Fuck is happening.
For myself I’m not too bothered (aged 70) but I weep for the young/innocent.
May those responsible rot in Hell. Especially you Blair. I will await you.
“What the Fuck is happening”.
thats been my motto for the last x number of yrs, even though we can see what’s planned, its still a joke when it does.
The UK has had more Covid deaths than the entire African continent. Think about that. The vaccination rate in Africa is under 10 percent. Few countries had any lockdowns. Why do people still believe this ‘virus’ exists when the only people I know who have been seriously ill or are dead are….drum roll please…people who have been vaccinated. I know hundreds of unvaccinated people and not one of them have been seriously ill or have died.
That mirrors my experience exactly. It’s getting to the point where 100% of the gene therapy fraud victims i know have been ill in one way or another since their ‘vaccination’ whereas my wife and I and our children have been absolutely fine. It’s absolutely night and day.
These non effective concoctions were sold as preventing transmission, then, when people weren’t the “dead ends”, as described by Fauci, they were claimed to prevent hospitalisation and serious illness. A thrice jabbed asthmatic 30 year old has been in hospital with a bad case of bronchitis, yet, it is supposed to be the unjabbed taking up hospital beds.
I feel so angry and sad on behalf of young people who trusted what they were told by the government and which was endorsed by the majority of medical staff in the NHS. Many of them blindsided by the propaganda.
What wonderful news. It’s a pity that the butcher’s bill for non-Covid deaths, for years into the future, is likely to be enormous. That excludes the long-term results of “vaccine” administration as a political arse-saver for some, and a cash bonanza for many.
What was the real cause though, of those who rushed to be vaccinated. To be perfectly frank they were braindead cowardly idiots. I don’t want them to die but the spiel wasn’t even that convincing. The time that we are moving into now will be infinitely much more challenging.
Doing their bit to ‘protect others’!
that photo above sums up the mess many countries are now in
You sure don’t want to go off-narrative, do you?
It could be equally true (and in fact more likely) that the NPIs simply did not work at all. After all, there’s no strong evidence they were having any effect even before vaccines and Omicron.
Is there a test for ‘Covid’?
Yes. If you’re still wearing a mask and/or looking forward to your next booster, you’ve had it and it’s rotted your brain.
Yes, CO2 build up when wearing a mask is a very real thing. It can cause “nausea, drowsiness, headache”. Gold standard CO2 monitoring study. Looks like we have a little bit of that going on in this photo.
I’m surprised Greta didn’t see and report on all the mask-retained CO2, since it’s visible to her.