Austria vs. Norway: Going Mental vs. 'Drop Testing'
Legacy media reporting and public health 'advice™' from up north contrasts favourably with the insanity spouted from the rooftops in Central Europe
Some time—it really feels like ages—ago, I once penned a brief comparison between Austria-Covidistan and how it differed from Scandinavia:
As legacy media coverage and ‘expert™’ opinion is, once more, very different, it’s high time for an update.
Please set your sanity aside, because what we’re about to observe is as much a clash of mindsets as well as prima facie evidence of: madness.
As always, non-English content comes to you in my translation, with emphases [and snarky commentary] added at times. Enjoy, I suppose.
Masks Pushed in Austria
Every now and then, I do see one lone tourist or, earlier this week, someone like the conductor on my commuter train wearing a face diaper. While I claim no insights as to why people do that, there is scant, if any mention, of masking in Norwegian media (as far as I even pay attention to masks).
Not so in Austria, for which I’ve provided a few choice snippets as of late August right before kids were headed back to school:
That, of course, was two weeks ago, and in the meantime, quite a few comparable pieces have appeared; I shall provide excerpts from three pieces:
Covid Wave Incoming: 41 Viennese Hospitalised Already!
Via Heute, 6 Sept. 2024 [source]
The number of coronavirus infections is rising steadily. As Heute reported, this is also reflected in the ÖGK incapacity to work figures. Sick leave due to Covid infections skyrocketed from 4,455 (week 34) to 5,382 (week 35) within a week. The number of absences was particularly high in the federal capital, with around 1,900 people falling ill.
‘The autumn wave is gaining steam, there has already been an increase in cases in recent weeks. Depending on the weather [so, not on, say, vaccination status?], we expect a peak in four to six weeks,’ explains Arschang Valipour, Head of the Department of Internal Medicine and Pneumology at Klinik Floridsdorf, in an interview with Heute.
40 inpatients, one in intensive care
According to the lung specialist, 40 patients throughout Vienna are currently receiving inpatient treatment for Covid, and one patient is also receiving intensive care: ‘We have repeatedly treated patients with Covid at the hospital in Floridsdorf in recent weeks, and we currently have ten hospitalised patients’, says Valipour.
Remember: Vienna has a population of over 2 million people, with the metro area adding another 2-3m, depending on how you count them.
Note that neither recovery nor ‘vaccination™’ status play a role, as if it doesn’t matter. What matters, according to the quoted ‘expert™’, lo and behold, is the weather, as if dropping temperatures—wait for ‘Covid™’ is caused by the ‘Climate Crisis™’—and not, say, whatever else autumn implies (more time indoor, less sunshine, sitting at work/in school all day, etc.).
‘Cases™’ Are on the Rise, Too
But that was last week; now, moving on to earlier this week, media is pumping out BS at an increasing rate, as if the ‘incidence’ of gaslighting might make more people get ‘vaccinated™’ once more.
‘Wave is Coming’: Higher Coronavirus Activity than Last Year
Via Heute, 10 Sept. 2024 [source]
With the end of the summer and the start of the new school year, the coronavirus is picking up speed again. ‘We are seeing an increase in Sars-CoV-2 cases. Last week, 20% of the samples sent in were already positive’, reports virologist Monika Redlberger-Fritz from MedUni Vienna…[never mind the twofold issue with: what’s the reference, as in: compared to what other number? If the 41 inpatients from a week earlier are any guide, a 20% increase is 8 people; yes, I know that exponential functions can ‘turn’ swiftly, but at rates increasing 20% per week, no war vs. Russia in 2024 because everyone is sick]
According to the expert [sic], the higher activity of the coronavirus compared to the same period last year is also striking and indicates that a new wave is building up soon. ‘So the wave is coming, but it’s still not clear exactly when.’ [go ahead, read it again, and perhaps ask Prof. Redlberger-Fritz for lottery numbers]
A significant increase in the coronavirus load [that’s the new spin, ‘cases™’ are so 2020 style] in the country is also being recorded in the 48 wastewater treatment plants participating in the National Monitoring Programme. According to the programme, the virus load at the beginning of September was a third higher than in 2023, with Vienna being the worst affected city. Burgenland has the lowest virus circulation...
To protect yourself and prevent the virus from spreading, Redlberger-Fritz clearly recommends: ‘Wear a mask and get vaccinated.’
I suppose that the last sentence is the epitaph on Prof. Redlberger-Fritz’ headstone, academically speaking (of course). I hope the good professor is ‘up-to-date™’ on her boosters for this season.
As to the gaslighting galore masquerading as ‘wastewater monitoring’, well, I know that this is the new thing since mass ‘testing™’ was discontinued, but it is worth mentioning how badly misleading ‘the expert™’ is here:
You see, if you went over to the ‘National Wastewater Monitoring’, specifically its flagship ‘Dashboard’, you’d learn two essential things:
Wastewater monitoring in the EU is based on the Commission’s ‘recommendation 2021/472’, which was implemented from 17 Jan. 2021 onwards. Note, however, that neither the denominator (an ever-widening amount of Sars-Cov-2 variants that are ‘found’) nor the numerator (the number of wastewater testing units) remained the same. Thus, there are many, and growing, data sets that may even be using non-standardised equipment. This is data splice writ-large, and there’s enough evidence to raise a few statisticians’ eyebrows (source):
The graph above shows the (smoothed) progression of a coronavirus wastewater indicator for Austria as a whole and for each federal state. It begins with September 2021, the start date of the nationwide school location monitoring [so they monitored schools at-first]. The Austrian trend is calculated as a population-weighted average of the developments in the federal states [i.e., it’s all a mathematical exercise]. The data from school location monitoring was also taken into account until the end of August 2022 [end of data and, possibly, also equipment used series 1]. With the end of school site monitoring on 1 September 2022, only data from the National Wastewater Monitoring Programme (24 facilities) was used [a different data stream, and possibly also different equipment/sensors, but that is not explained on the website]. This structural change [add: in data sampling, collection, and, likely also analysis] is shown in the graph by the break in the curve [basically they used whatever data they had and attached it to another data set with different qualities (much like the infamous ‘Hockey Stick’ or other temperature reconstructions, which are similarly composite in nature and rife with data splice)]. As different laboratories carried out the wastewater analyses in different federal states as part of the school location monitoring programme, this also led to more variation between the individual federal states [told you: what they don’t tell you is that these different labs might also use different equipments to do analysis]. This effect will be reduced at the beginning of September 2022, as only one central laboratory is active in the National Monitoring Programme. In December 2022/January 2023, the monitoring programme was expanded to a total of 48 wastewater treatment plants, which cover more than 58% of the Austrian population with their catchment area [oh, look at that: another major change]. As of 1 February 2023, the data and results of all 48 wastewater treatment plants participating in the National Monitoring Programme are available.
But none of these ‘details’ or ‘fine print’ makes it into any of these mentions. ‘Experts™’, such as Prof. Redlberger-Fritz, merely mention these alarmist things and harass people into getting another round of modRNA poison juice. In addition, since testing is no longer (approximately) population-based but carried out by a few GPs and in hospitals, the overwhelming majority of people who may or may not be infected with whatever Sars-Cov-2 variant is excluded from any sample. Consequently, statements about whatever share or the like of ‘tests’ are just that: numbers without reference, hence they are meaningless.
You cannot, simply put, determine anything based on such ‘data™’. I’m very much convinced, although I lack solid evidence, that ‘the experts™’ know about this—but they continue to spout this kind of nonsense live on air.
Moreover, the ‘journos™’ are in cahoots with them, for otherwise the problems with the ‘data™’ outlined above aren’t exactly, you know, rocket science or quantum physics. If the likes of you and me are able to see through this charade (fraud), all these cantankerous ‘journos™’, too, can see them.
There are so many more such ‘articles™’ from Austria, it’s impossible to chronicle them all. I do sometimes note a few ‘highlights’, such as extra-woke ‘journo™’ Florian Klenk who, being super-afraid of Covid, once hid on a train toilet (!) because his follow passengers didn’t care about masks:
And then there is this recent example of another super-woke ‘journo™’ by the name of Thomas Mayer who, in Sept. 2024 (!!!), still tests himself for Covid:
The entire absurdity of these examples from Austria are contradicted, at every step of the way, by what is going on with respect to Covid in Norway right now, to which we now turn.
Covid as a Non-Thing in Norway
For insights into what’s transpiring up north, we’ll turn to state broadcaster NRK; do see if you can spot the difference to Austria.
Now ‘Everybody’ is Buying Covid Tests Again
By Malin Kjellstadli Korsnes, NRK, 10 Sept. 2024 [source]
Do you feel a bit under the weather? You’re not alone. Pharmacies noticed a strong increase in the number of Covid tests and cold medications.
Vitus Apotek in Ålesund has had many customers this summer, both Norwegians and tourists. There was an increase of sales of nasal spray, cough sirup, and Covid tests.
‘They cough and sneeze. I am so glad fact that we have the plexiglass separation between us and them, even if we should have taken them down. You are encountering so many customers with symptoms’, says pharmacist Kristoffer Nygård [I almost fell off my chair reading this]
While it has been a long time since the authorities recommended people with symptoms to get tested, there are many who still do so.
‘Right now, we’re sold out on Covid tests. I believe this to be an after-effect of the pandemic when people wanted [sic] to find out if they had Covid or not’, says Nygård.
Sales of Rapid Tests Doubled
The trend is the same all over the country. It is not just the Vitus Pharmacy in Ålesund that saw a great increase of Covid tests and other cold medication.
Apotek1, too, has seen a doubling of sales of Covid tests compared to last year, and Boots, too, reports increased sales.
According to the Institute of Public Health, there is an increase of people sick with Covid, and it is possible that this increase will continue through autumn. In addition, there has also been an outbreak [fear the germs] of rhinoviruses [that’s normal in autumn: they cause sniffles] in the past three weeks [this is followed by the following poll].
[caption] Do you test yourself for Covid-19 if you have symptoms?
Yes, I’ll get myself a rapid test because I want to know what is causing this: 50%
No, I’m done doing so: 43%
I’m never sick: 7%
6,037 votes in total [as of 14 Sept. 2024, at 7:30 a.m.]
Sick Baby [of course]
Kamilla Grande is out with the stroller in Ålesund, but she’s not completely fit. Her entire family came down with something:
We believed we all had Covid, but it wasn’t the case. Our eight month-old baby was the least sick, with fever that lasted a few days. I myself was ill for two weeks.
It’s very hard, exhausting, and bad [to be sick at the same time as one’s baby].
Poul Sofus Eysturdal, too, had been sick, and his Covid test was positive:
That was shitty. I had high fever and felt like shit.
Stop Testing
Ålesund’s municipal chief medical officer [kommuneoverlege] Alexander Drabløs Wiig says that many are catching a cold these days and there is also a slight heightening of the Covid incidence. He also opines that people should stop testing for Covid because it is irrelevant which [cold] virus you come down with if you don’t belong to any of the risk groups. This is because the people have good immunity via vaccination [of course] and infection over the past years.
Now we recommend that you stay home if you’re sick and symptomatic. If you’re in doubt or you feel ill, so shall you, of course, seek medical help.
The authorities no longer consider Covid-19 a society-endangering infectious disease, and the virus is now in the same category as influenza.
Wiig [of course] suggests that elderly and others in risk groups get a booster dose once injection season commences this autumn.
Bottom Lines: The Great and Lesser Sorting
This is all, of course, insane.
At the meta level, though, we may observe two kinds of sortings, though: at the societal level, trust in recommendations, heckling, and other stupid utterances is declining even in high-trust societies such as Norway.
If that above-related non-representative poll is any indication, there’s but half of the respondents that still buy Covid ‘tests’. I’d add that it’s likely that this is an inflated share because if you’re still deeply into that whole Covid cult, you’re more likely to click on such links. I suspect the ‘true’ number of morons to be somewhere between 30-40%.
As to the other sorting, well, it’s also between those who can’t shut up (them ‘experts™’) and those who enable their lunacy (the ‘journos™’). In these cases discussed here, we can clearly see the former kind of sorting playing out at the industry level both in legacy media and ‘the scientific community™’.
The massive cognitive dissonance—it’s a weak term, let’s call a spade a spade: raving lunacy—comes directly to the fore once we compare the Austro-Covidian and Norwegian news items (for fun’s sake, you may replace either by evidence from your neck of the woods): how is it possible that such madness coexists in the same kind of universe at the same time? I mean, Austria and Norway are some 2,000km apart, they’re in the same time zone, and even their cultures aren’t that different.
It’s a conundrum, if there ever was one, but I’d add one more thought here:
Never underestimate the ego and vanity of both academics (I speak from 20+ years of experience in the field) and legacy media journalists. ‘Covid-the-social-construct’ was the thing that provided the former with insane amounts of media attention while the latter knew that if they hyped this crap until kingdom come, they’d get more clicks, too. The notion that ‘journos™’ are constantly stepping into (and fading from) the limelight is but the icing on this particular shit-cake.
So, don’t be gaslit no more; perhaps you’d might wish to tell someone in your circles who’s still masking up and preparing to ‘get up-to-date’ on the poison jabs that he or she is not alone: direct them to Die Fackel 2.0’s coverage of Austria (the mental illness parade) and then to my reporting on Norway (or skip the former).
Have a nice weekend—over here, the heavy rains have stopped, which means that I’ll be building a winter/rain/snow cover (a wooden hut) for our horses and sheep.
I’ll also switch the topic tomorrow, because I’m so sick of this nonsense, but I feel the need to keep at least some receipts.
I feel like you hit a new level of excellence in your "bottom lines" section, which was measured by the fact that I laughed out loud at least three times reading it.
I'm not sure any stores except pharmacies even have sel-tests on the shelf any longer. Maybe a maxi-store might have some, in the hygiene-section. As for face covers, apart from moslems only obviously mentally disturbed people still use those (unless it is for actual real reasons, like a dentist).
Had to endure the Swedish rail-system recently. Full six car X2000-train, no face covers, no restrictions, and not a single mention of Covid. Had some lovely pass-the-time chat with tourists from faraway lands though, marveling at the freedom we enjoy in Sweden.
Makes you think. Or me, at least.