Originally Posted by
superquag
Right .... first, the website is super dodgy:
21st Century Wire is a conspiracy and conjecture site run by Patrick Henningsen. Henningsen has ties to both Infowars and Alex Jones, also known for fake news and broad conspiracies. They also seem to have ties to, or at least to be pro-Russian in much of their content. Specifically Russian Today (RT) the state run Russian news outlet.
21st Century Wire - Media Bias/Fact Check
It goes on to note that:
21st Century Wire is an alternative news website that rejects the consensus of science regarding climate change and also promotes the conspiracy that mainstream media is publishing fake news. This source has also received an unproven claim by Snopes, which 21st Century Wire considers a questionable source. The website Fort Liberty has placed 21st Century Wire on it’s Fake News/Hoax list. 21st Century employs somewhat sensational headlines and does provide sourcing to attempt to support claims, however most are to themselves. The primary issue is that 21st Century publishes some questionable stories (see examples above) that are embedded among legitimate stories they publish. This can mislead the reader.
A factual search reveals 21st Century Wire has a poor record with fact checkers. (D. Van Zandt 7/20/2016)
There's this claim in the article posted:
"You wouldn’t know it by listening to western politicians or mainstream media stenographers, there are also nonlockdown countries. They are led by Sweden, Iceland, Belarus, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Surprisingly to some, their results have been as good or better than the lockdown countries, but without having to endure the socio-economic chaos we are now witnessing across the world. For this reason alone, Sweden and others like them, have already won the policy debate, as well as the scientific one too."
So:
"Iceland has yet to take many of the draconian measures seen across Europe and Asia of state-wide lockdowns, though the island country has banned gatherings of 100 people or more and closed secondary and tertiary schools.
Officials say more restrictive measures haven’t been needed because they were better prepared and armed with data to track the virus.
“Testing and contact tracing are one of the key reasons why a lockdown has not been considered necessary up to this point,” its Directorate of Health said in a statement to CNN.
“There is also another reason, no less important, we have pursued a very aggressive policy of quarantine for individuals -- suspected to be at risk of having contracted the virus -- for much longer and at a higher scale than most other countries we are aware of.”
Iceland began testing its population in early February, weeks before its first coronavirus-related death, Stefánsson said, adding that health officials have aggressively contact-traced and quarantined confirmed and suspected Covid-19 cases."
On 16 March 2020, president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, dismissed the threat of coronavirus and encouraged working in fields and driving tractors as a way of overcoming the pandemic: "You just have to work, especially now, in a village [...] there, the tractor will heal everyone. The fields heal everyone".[72] In his further comments on the pandemic, the Belarusian leader referred to it as "psychosis" and, on 28 March, played a game of hockey, later stating in an interview "it is better to die on our feet, than live on your knees [...] sport, especially on ice, is better than any antiviral medication, it is the real thing".[73][74] Prior to that, in an official meeting, Lukashenko proposed "poisoning" the coronavirus with vodka, as well as attending banyas as the best cure for the disease.
On 28 April, the United NationsResident Coordinator in Belarus, Joanna Kazana-Wisniowiecki, emphasized the importance of complying with the WHO recommendations in her video address to the nation and characterized the current state of the pandemic in the country as "sustained and pervasive local transmission", reiterating the previous WHO assessment.[100] On that same day, in a WHO report, the current epidemiological situation in Belarus was labeled as "concerning" and requiring "the immediate implementation of a comprehensive blended strategy", involving a variety of physical distancing measures, as well as expansion of testing capacity, improvements in QA for the locally produced COVID-19 test kits and implementation of standardized screening procedures at international entry points
Oh, and, surprise, surprise, the government's transparency has been questioned.
- Japan - Japan would love to do a lockdown but the government doesn't have the Constitutional power to order one. It is also likely that Japan's actual situation is much worse than the Ministry of Health is admitting, because they have all of the same risk factors as China - huge crowded cities, crowded public transport and no social distancing. There were reports today that hospitals in Tokyo weren't admitting people with coronavirus symptoms because they were either full or said that they weren't equipped to deal with someone who was infectious. Having lived in Japan for a long time, and having spent last Christmas Day in two Japanese hospitals, I have no doubt that they wouldn't cope with a pandemic.
- South Korea - test and trace, and they have in fact restricted their economy - not a complete lockdown, but they are not operating as per normal and it is affecting their economy.
- Taiwan - test and trace and they are prepared to institute a lockdown if needed:
https://qz.com/1841177/taiwan-contai...ckdown-anyway/
Why Sweden Has Already Won the Debate on COVID 'Lockdown' Policy - 21st Century Wire
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