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Dear all,
I am, like so many of you, following the progress around the world. Clearly I follow very closely what is happening in Iceland and Norway, besides what is happening in the US. Iceland has been doing some very interesting things. I also love their website. There are so many really bad web sites out there for Covid, while the Icelandic one is easy to understand and get an overview from. Have a look here:
The special thing in Iceland is testing. Not only testing, but actually analyzing each and every case so as to compare the virus mutations. This allows them to say where the virus is coming from, among other things. Testing started early and there was testing for a full month before the first test was positive. Testing is also done on the public, not just those that are sick. This means there is actually information about how much of the population has got Covid. That is unique. The basic principle is that anyone that wants a test, can get one.
Iceland has also kept things more open than many places. Primary schools and kindergarten has been kept open. Restaurants have, with severe limitations, also been able to keep open. When infection is found, there is contact tracing and a lot of people are set into quarantine, if they have been in close contact to someone with the disease.
There are now 0 patients in Iceland in intensive case. Long may that continue. BTW, another interesting thing is that most patients that go into intensive care with Covid in Iceland, get out alive. Sadly that is not the case always in other countries.
There were also no new cases today. Only 7 during this week. This is still with thousands of people being tested during the week.
My point is that with Covid being such a massive issue around the world, it is good to see countries making progress. I hope that further opening of society in Iceland will go well. I am looking forward to further progress across the world!
Best,
Jon.CEO & Co-founder Vivaldi
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It does look like Iceland and Norway, along with the other Nordic countries, have gotten off relatively easy so far. From what I've read the high death rates in some countries are likely due to widespread bacterial resistance from decades of antibiotics overuse, since people actually die from infections (Pneumonia), and not the virus itself.
It's definitely not over yet, even if some populist politicians might like to hint at it. I'm worried once we let our guard down it will come back in full force, and then we're stuck with these measures all through summer. Which might still be the case anyway for all we know at this point.
One thing I don't understand about all this talk of more testing: Even if someone is tested negative for the virus, they might then think they're safe, then go about and get infected a day or two later. So it's an endless cycle, unless we test everyone every single day - which we obviously can't.
They're not even sure if people get immunity from having had it at this point. And if we're talking herd immunity, that's like 85-90% of the population. There's going to be a lot of dead people before that happens...
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@Pathduck , there are a number of reasons why the testing is important:
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Through frequent testing, you can quarantine people early so they do not go around infecting other people. In reality there are a number of stories in Norway, for example, where lack of testing led to many people getting infected. The way this works in Iceland is once a person is tested with Covid, there is contact tracing on every case and people that have been in close contact with the person getting Covid are all told to be quarantined and tested.
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A lot of the people getting Covid have no symptoms. They can get other people infected, who may get a lot sicker.
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By testing a lot of people they have learned that kids do not get the disease as much, do not get as sick and do not infect others as easily it seems. This has allowed them to keep the kindergartens and primary schools open, with using social distancing rules and a lot of cleaning.
So testing replaces some of the more extreme measures. If you can control the spread more and know how large part of the population is sick, by doing random testing, you have more information to take measured decisions. Using data and science is always better than flying blind.
Cheers,
Jon. -
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@jon , in Spain The situation is tremendous, not because of the confinement that is beginning to be gradually reduced, nor because of the tests carried out, but because of the continuous attack and boycott of the government by the parties of the extreme right with a strong presence in parliament and related media, which hinder all measures in the social and economic field.
Sometimes I don't understand people.
I hope you and your family stay healthy in the US, where news also not
good at all.>Laptop ACER, AMD Ryzen, GPU AMD Radeon RAM 16GB, SSD 512GB -Win11 Home 64 v24H2| Vivaldi last stable|
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@Catweazle May the good guys always have the better arguments to win over the others.
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@jon said in Covid in Iceland : Progress being made. Interesting findings.:
there is contact tracing and a lot of people are set into quarantine,
The age-old, common-sense best defense against the spread of disease. Still works. Too bad much of our leaders had forgotten about it.
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@Catweazle, yes, it seems like the situation in Spain is not so good. It does, however, look like the number of active cases is going down and I hope that is true. It is really unfortunate when people do not work together on solving problems. I am sure that had world leaders worked together on this pandemic from the very beginning, a lot of what we are seeing could have been avoided.
The situation in the US is not great either. Hopefully it will improve.
Hope you stay healthy as well and all your family.
Cheers,
Jon. -
@jon, the government has certainly reacted somewhat late, but the cause of the large number of deaths is mainly due to the brutal cuts in healthcare, made by the previous government, and because of this, hospitals should fight the epidemic with limited resources and personnel, reaching even to have to manufacture protective clothing with garbage bags, since all the companies related to masks and clothes were transferred to China and other asiatic countries. It is for this doubly outrageous that the party that has cut all this, while in government, is the one that now blames the current government for these deficiencies. It's crazy.
>Laptop ACER, AMD Ryzen, GPU AMD Radeon RAM 16GB, SSD 512GB -Win11 Home 64 v24H2| Vivaldi last stable|
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@Catweazle Is more or less what has happened in Italy, fortunately the infections continue to decrease but i fear what will happen after the reopening.
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@Folgore101 @Catweazle We will see a second wave for sure and as an aftermath production of vital medical equipment will be back in Europe. It's just a matter of time. Until a vaccine is found please follow the rules of social distancing. It is hard and will be like that for some more time. Please stay all well.
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Meanwhile, the Australian Government has made an ad about its response to the pandemic, and it's surprisingly honest and informative.
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@Folgore101 , and this that Italy and Spain are not so bad in the ranking of the tests they carry out.
Although it also depends a lot on the tests available, countries with a small population can naturally carry out more tests (each test costs between € 30-50 + related costs)
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here in england the government left it far too late for testing.Warned in january and did nothing until months down the line.
People were told to stay home and instead gathered in groups and did the opposite.
People management is more important than a one off test.Test negative one day and contract virus the next is hardly inducive for accurate figures. -
@jon said in Covid in Iceland : Progress being made. Interesting findings.:
The basic principle is that anyone that wants a test, can get one.
Good. Here in America, the CDC decides if you're allowed to get a test or not. This is the same CDC that told us to not wear masks.
And to be clear: Wear a mask! The CDC was wrong, and grossly incompetent, when they told us not to wear masks. Even the CDC now admits that wearing a mask is a good thing.
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- There is a spike in Covid cases because there’s a spike in testing.
- If we had more IQ tests, there would be a spike in morons, too.
- I am not adding this year to my age, I didn’t use it.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q7HkxNhnXA
The above link is for an old 1970s uk public information film in regard to the coronavirus..interestingly it is in fact an ad to stop children going with strangers.A lot of these adverts/public information films had the main intention of scaring kids into not doing something and the 1970s were quite prolific with these ads.
Today these would be deemed unsuitable perhaps but i thought the coronavirus one was quite interesting as it contains advice which is very similar to advice given today in regard to this novel variant. -
Austria here. Lots of free testing stations all over. Can also be done privately. Quarantine is not strict. I can say we're handling it pretty well so far too.
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@Pesala said in Covid in Iceland : Progress being made. Interesting findings.:
I am not adding this year to my age, I didn’t use it.
Also this. +1
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I am of the belief every human being will become affected by this novel coronavirus like previous coronaviruses.
Locking all the hens up in the henhouse is all well and good but the big bad wolf is not going to go away.
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Iceland and Norway aren't using Covid to trample on peoples rights. They are focusing on what they should and that is treating people and getting them cured.
