Mussels wrote: ↑Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:58 am
An exercise in asking a very specific question to get the answer you want and then pretend it's the answer to a more general question.
Indeed. I think that if you are going to ask questions of the Office of National Statistics under the Freedom of Information Act it is probably wise to ask for specifics cos if you ask a general question, you're going to get a general answer. It was therefore a good exercise in getting the answer you want - in this instance, 'Please supply how many people have died from covid-19 alone with no underlying health issues, from November 2019 to December 2021.'
Now, I have no idea what this guy has a black belt in (note, I personally have a black belt), whether he's actually a barrister or whether he's a conspiracy theorist or not and I couldn't give a shit either. What I am interested in though is the answer to the question asked of the Office of National Statistics: 'Please supply how many people have died from covid-19 alone with no underlying health issues, from November 2019 to December 2021.' because for 18 months or more I've been asking the same question. I wanted to know how dangerous covid actually was.
If a death is recorded as a covid death when it occurs within 28 days of a positive covid test it may make the numbers look good (or bad) for the government who, lets face it are trying to sell a product and protect the fantastic NHS but it's not exactly a true reflection of the severity of covid 19. Your opinion may differ of course and that's fine. If you want to believe what the government tells you, in general terms, then believe it.
However, the specific question asked has a specific answer and it would appear that only 9400 people with no pre-existing conditions died from covid alone in 2020 and only 7971, again with no pre-existing conditions died in the first 3 quarters of 2021. When you compare this to the scientific projections of covid deaths (half a million?) then you have to say the actual deaths from covid falls woefully short. If you bear in mind that around 6000 people a year die from pancreatic cancer (for which there is currently no cure and no vaccine) and around 75,000 people die
every year from smoking related diseases covid isn't very special. Of course, it killed a lot of people with underlying health issues and pre-existing conditions which made them vulnerable but that simply underlines the fact that if you keep yourself healthy, covid should not be a big issue - mortality wise.
It's also interesting for me to see your reactions to the video - conspiracy theory! black belt in anything but statistics! not a statistician, a load of bollocks etc which is to be expected when you are all experts at everything so it should be enough to shoot the messenger. As I said before I don't give a shit about the messenger but I was interested in the answer to the question he's bringing to peoples' attention. Some of you clearly don't give a shit about that - and that too is fine but you could do me a favour and tell me whether I should believe the answer from the Office of National Statistics to the question asked and if I shouldn't believe it, what number of people died from covid alone is the right one to believe.