´Tripledemic´? Covid, flu and RSV are ravaging the USA

We have been so careful with Covid precautions that we are now vulnerable to other respiratory ilnesses

“Please test her for the new Corona virus!, ” I begged when I arrived with my sick daughter at our local hospital here in the Seattle area. It was at the beginning of 2020.

It was a different time than the one we now live in. The new virus that ended up ravaging the whole world wasn’t really on people’s radar yet. My daughter was sick—coughing, running a high fever, and showing all the signs of the disease I had heard about on the news – a virus, mind you, where the first detected case in America was a few miles from my home.

It turned out that my daughter had RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). The symptoms are largely identical to both flu and Covid, and after a week at home, where we back then found it rather unfamiliar that she had to wear a mask, she recovered. That same week, the public schools in our school district closed – 540 days passed before she was back in a classroom.

This happened before the full-on outbreak of the pandemic, that ended up putting its clammy, suffocating hands on the world’s population. Still, and I have to say this even though most probably share my burnt-out Covid fatigue, the consequences of the pandemic are far from over.

Seattle Children’s Hospital reports that their capacity is at 200% compared to the same time last year. There is no treatment for RSV, although, ironically, it was research into an RSV vaccine treatment that laid the foundations for the Covid vaccines. For now, the hospitals can only provide relief when a child is admitted with RSV and help with oxygen to help children breathe.

In Denmark, you also see an increase in RSV, the flu numbers are in a normal range, and there is a decrease in positive PCR tests, but an increase in the waste water tests. Is Denmark facing the same development as we see here in the USA?

The authorities in the US are nervous. Covid, flu numbers, which are estimated to be high, and RSV, which is affecting more widely due to a lack of herd immunity. We have been isolated, wearing masks, working from home for so long that, all in all, we face an autumn and a winter with a high proportion of sick people and a strain on our healthcare staff.

The lack of herd immunity is due to the fact that many have worn masks, kept their distance, and worked from home for the last two winters. Our immune systems are not strong enough, so flu and other raspatory illnesses will hit earlier and harder.

Most adults manage RSV without problems and recover after a week or two of cold-like symptoms. Recovering is not as easy for the youngest and oldest citizens, who can develop pneumonia and bronchitis.

In normal times, i.e. before Covid, which, frankly, is hard to remember, children are exposed to a number of viruses in their first two years of life. But because we have been so successful here in wearing a mask and keeping a distance, the children are exposed to clusters of viruses at the same time – which means more serious symptoms and disease progression.

Hospitals from other states are contacting my state, Washington, daily to see if we have bed capacity at our children’s hospitals – all hospitals in the US are under pressure – medical professionals are facing a season where their capacity is pushed to the limit. RSV and influenza have not changed, but we have – because we did the right thing and followed CDC guidelines and the guidelines of our state officials in an effort to protect our children and the elderly.

So, I continue using my disinfecting wipes on surfaces, wash my hands, and tell my kids to do the same. And then I ask myself: when will it end? How many years will pass before we and our children no longer pay the price for the pandemic we so wanted to protect our loved ones from?

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Tri-demi? covid, influenza og RS hærger USA

Vi har været så påpasselige med covid, at vi er blevet sårbare for andre sygdomme.

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Biden says the pandemic is over. Is it?

In the US, 400 people still die from Covid every day.

This week, both my kids finally took off their masks at school. Every single day since they returned to school after 540 days of online schooling, they have attended PE, sat in their classrooms, had recess – with masks on.

Since masks have been part of a highly controversial, heated debate and are a symbol of where you stand politically, our advice to the kids has been to do what made them feel comfortable – wearing a mask became so much more than just an expression of wanting to protect one’s classmates.

“I have previously been almost a religious fanatic when it came to wearing a mask in public. Now I shop, go to parent meetings, and have a social life again – without wearing a face mask.

Joe Biden was asked by a CBS journalist on “60 Minutes” whether the pandemic was over in the United States. He was in Detroit attending North America’s largest auto show. Biden’s response? “We still have problems with covid … but the pandemic is over,” he said. But that is simply not true. The United States is still under a “public health emergency,” which the country has been under since January 2020.

The timing couldn’t be worse as health officials are trying to convince the American population to take the latest Covid booster shot that specifically targets the Omicron variant. At the same time, the White House is trying to get Congress to approve 22 billion dollars for Covid prevention.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, the WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, last week. But in the same statement, he encouraged nations of the world to still be vigilant.

More than six and a half million people have died from Covid, more than one million this year alone, including my own uncle in Copenhagen in July. In the US, 400 people die from Covid every single day, and 4,300 are hospitalized.

Biden has a a bad habit of saying things that the White House staff then has to walk back. It is, at best, an unfortunate statement from the American president, because such announcements can complicate the fight against Covid. It makes me nervous to think about the consequences of Biden’s statements. Will fewer people go and get their Omicron booster shots? I wouldn´t be surprised if some people think: Why should I get the vaccine if the pandemic is over?

And if the boss of all declares the pandemic over, why would the Republican politicians needed to get a majority want to vote in alliance with their Democratic colleagues in Congress to allocate more tax dollars aimed to deal with Covid in the form of vaccinations, testing and research? There is not much historic data about Covid, yet, but we do know one thing now – the numbers of positive cases increase when people’s social lives move indoors. Officials in the healthcare sector report that there are not enough economic funds allocated to handle the raise the expected positive Covid cases in the autumn.

A pandemic does not go from 100 to 0 – I wish that was the case, because that would make it so much easier to communicate a message and for the population to understand. Meanwhile, each individual citizen interprets the situation according to his or her own best judgment.

Yesterday I attended yet another parent meeting, they seem to be never ending these weeks. For the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, everything has moved from Zoom meetings to be held in person. About half of the parents wore masks, I did not.

I have previously been almost a religious fanatic when it came to wearing a mask in public. Now I shop, attend parent meetings, and have a social life again – without wearing a face mask. The pandemic is not over – it is just under control. But continuous control requires that we keep taking it seriously while living our lives without having to endure too many restrictions.

Maybe that’s what Biden was trying to say?

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Coronapandemien er slut, siger Biden – men er den det?

I USA dør der stadig 400 af covid om dagen.

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Over en million er døde af corona i USA – men amerikanerne er ligeglade

Metaltræthed præger coronadebatten, selv om hospitalsindlæggelserne igen stiger.

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More than 1 million Americans have died from the Corona virus but nobody seems to care.

Corona fatigue characterizes the debate, although hospital admissions are rising.

It’s Wednesday morning, the clock shows 5:45 am. I reach for my my cell phone. A text in red lights up on the screen: “You have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.” This is the first time I receive such a message, but I came back from Denmark three days ago, so the message does not surprise me.

“In Denmark, confidence in public authorities and health experts is fortunately much greater than it is in America. The Danish population has not experienced the same heartbreaking consequences as we see in the US, where people react to Covid as a political disease

On my first trip to Denmark in almost two years, not many people were wearing masks on the plane from Seattle to Iceland. From Iceland to Copenhagen, I was the only one out of a handful, and in the metro, wearing my KN95 mask made me stand out to the extend that I got an answer in English when I asked a Danish fellow passenger in Danish for directions.

“Prepare for more waves,” the White House warns, while I blink dully in front of my TV screen. I do not notice any reaction from the journalists in the conference room either.

In the last three months, 100,000 Americans have died from the Corona virus and the media talks about crossing a milestone of a total of over 1 million dead Americans from the virus. The truth is, however, that according to the University of Washington, America already passed this grim number last year if you include direct and indirect courses to Covid-19.

1 in 330 Americans have died, everyone knows or has heard of someone who has had the virus. The long-term effects of Covid have hit thousands of people struggling to hold on to their daily lives in a country where the fear of losing everything over night always lurks just below the surface. It is completely unfathomable that so many have died in the world’s richest country, where everyone over 12 has access to the vaccine. More than 300,000 Americans did not have to pay the ultimate price had they chosen to get vaccinated. But when it comes to public health policy, vaccines and masks have become an expression of political stance.

In Denmark, confidence in public authorities and health experts is fortunately much greater than it is in America. The Danish population has not experienced the same heartbreaking consequences as we see in the US, where people react to Covid as a political disease rather than a public health issue. During my ten days in Copenhagen and Aarhus, I sat in the metro and on busses, in cafes, restaurants, and bars, and everyone went about their lives as if Covid was a thing of the past. The Danes shrug when they hear of raising positive cases. They are vaccinated and know that if they get infected, they will most likely have mild symptoms.

Joe Biden has a reputation for being empathetic when it comes to talking about loss. More than anyone, he knows what loss does to a human being. But he, too, sounds rehearsed and tired when he softly whispers: “We must not become numb to loss.”

The truth is, we have become numb. The shock we felt in the beginning of the pandemic has subsided. The horror of the death toll from countries like Brazil, Italy, England, and the United States, where we saw quickly erected tents with people lying in a row in knock-out-beds in uneven bedding, the sound of pumping machines, coughing and rasping voices, have subsided. The news on tv no longer show such images but reports dryly about millions in isolation in Chinese cities, millions of unvaccinated positive cases in North Korea, and about a new virus wave in South Africa caused by a new variant, it is impossible to remember the name of. And in the meantime, I shake off the words from the news anchor, focus my attention on Ukraine and the debate on Roe v Wade – and embrace the world around me, even though the infection rates are higher than they have been for months.

Today was my son’s birthday. So I put the cellphone away and set the breakfast table with Danish flags and flowers by his plate as is custom. When he ran off to catch the school bus, I found a home Covid test. One strip told me, the test was negative. Some day there will be two strips showing me that I have tested positive. But until then, I choose to let the Danish side of my brain take over and let life feel a little lighter than it has the last few years.

Corona har ændret mit syn på andre mennesker

Jeg melder mig ud af kulturkrigen, for livet skal leves. Vaccinerede, ansvarlige borgere bør igen kunne møde verden.

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Covid has changed my view of other people

I resign from the culture war, because life must be lived. Vaccinated, responsible citizens should once again be able to engage with the world.

“The pandemic has changed me and I have lost friends. Friends I thought were different. Good people who have done volunteer work in Africa. I would never have thought they were anti-vaxxers.”

The conversation took place in a doctor´s office. “Have you changed your view of other people?”, he asked me.

I have to admit, I have. I have always had a curiosity when it came to meeting new people. That curiosity has flourished here in the United States, where I have met people from all over the world, people with vastly different religious, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

But in the two years we have lived with the pandemic, I have changed my behavior to a degree so that I don´t recognize my own way of behaving in the world anymore.

Because something within me has broken, namely the belief that we all want the best – for each other and for the greater community. But even so, I don´t want it to stop me from going on living.

Not everyone is willing to do their part, pull the load, even when the shit hit the fan. It makes me sad, but it also comes with an enormous sense of loneliness.

The pandemic caught us on the wrong foot in terms of logistics and vaccines – but it also pointed out a huge moral problem. In relation to vaccines and masks, this has become evident – even though it was the “community first, individual since” mindset that was the original approach.

After two years with the virus, we all know what measures work. If you choose to ignore the recommendations, you are cynical, selfish, and unsympathetic. I thought it was a matter of time, before even the fiercest mask and vaccination opponents would follow science. That’s not how it turned out.

“The Danes have had a more pragmatic approach to their daily lives during Covid, but here in the Seattle area where I live, it has been a strong identity marker to show in your behavior that you are on the blue team – on the side of science and the Democrats.

The division centers around what is in the best interest of society on one side and the freedoms of the individual citizen on the other. And in that conflict, I choose me and my family’s best. I have done my part for the community. Now it is the time to go outside and embrace the world again.

We will not eliminate this virus, we have learn how to live with it. Just as we must learn to live with people we do not agree with. Therefore, it is now time for us to reevaluate. We can´t continue to live a life of restrictions.

This is not easy, because there is a lot of fear and identity built into the way I and others have become accustomed to living in recent years. I sense that the Danes have had a more pragmatic approach to their daily lives during Covid, but here in the Seattle area where I live, it has been a strong marker of identity to show in your behavior that you are on the blue team – on the side of science and the Democrats.

Because insisting on returning to a normal life easily resonates a discourse we know from the ultra-right-wing media, like FOX News, and from Republican Trump politicians. So for the blue team, this is quite a step to take.

Whether you feel you show your sympathy or antipathy with a certain political approach, your hatred of authorities, or what opposition it is you want to express with your Covid behavior, Covid does not know politics or ethics. It looks for breeding grounds.

But if you have been vaccinated and have received your third shot. If you are wearing a mask and behave responsibly, you should once again freely meet the world.

Glem ”hygge” som sællert i udlandet – Danmarks succes er sammenhold

Danmark kan løfte covid-restriktioner, fordi danskerne bakker op om videnskaben.

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Forget “hygge” as international branding – Denmark’s success is “togetherness”

The reason why Denmark can lift covid restrictions is because the population work together and believe in science.

All eyes are again on Denmark.

Yet again, the country is a frontrunner when it comes to handling the Corona virus. The consequences of the Omikron variant was apparently not as dire as the health authorities feared.

Now, some restrictions are lifted. Cultural venues can reopen, children are back in schools, the hospitalizations are at a manageable level.

All of this happened, because the population have done their part. Each individual Dane has made sensible corona choices. The choices may not always have been easy to make, but they have meant that society as a whole is moving towards greater freedom – and that benefits everyone.

In the United States, we see infection rates like never before. Between 700,000 and 1 million. pr. day. Many never become part of the statistics – because they do not want to be registered, or because they cannot get a test until next week due to lack of testing capacity. 150,000 are hospitalized with Covid, the highest number at any time during the pandemic.

The American population is divided. While Biden and his team are trying to appeal to the public to get vaccinated, many people have a skepticism against the state weighing in on their personal lives. In their pursuit of political gain, many Republican state governors strongly oppose health officials’ recommendations.

“I am proud of the way,

Denmark has handled

the last two years.

Politicians react based on

advice from health and science professional,

and everyone has access to vaccines.”

We have been living with Covid for two years now. Every society in the world, every single citizen’s everyday life, every single family has had to deal with the disease and its consequences.

Personally, I am emotionally exhausted. Even though I am in a privileged situation where I and my children have access to vaccines. I’m honestly so tired of how familiar the names Brostrøm and Fauci sound.

The constant announcements from the authorities, new mutations, restrictions, changes in behavior, cancellations of social events, changes in the children’s everyday lives – it all takes my breath away. Add to that a concern for my children’s mental health and their memory of a childhood during a pandemic.

And then there are the concerns for my neighbors, for the people of the world and the societal consequences we see around the world in the form of riots, empty shelves in grocery stores, the exploitation from dark totalitarian powers now that the attention is directed away from their abuses.

I am far from the only one who is exhausted over constantly dealing with topics of illness, fear of death and a fear of political instability. Every day, I hear from friends, neighbors or the media that people suffer from “covid- fatique ” because of the constant worries.

“Do you want to give a lecture about Denmark and hygge,” my former Professor colleague asked when she invited me to come to the University of Washington to give a guest lecturer in the class she was teaching in Scandinavian culture.

“No, I don´t want to do that,” I replied.

“But I would like to talk about what it is that makes the Danish population stand together, how there is a general trust in the authorities, and why the model of society works in a way that makes the country so well-functioning.”

So, I did – and while the students asked me to elaborate on the way the country works, I realized there are things I miss about my old country.

When I see how Denmark has handled the last two years, I am proud. Politicians are reacting based on advice from health and science professionals, and everyone has access to vaccines. Most importantly, the people stand together and support the decisions that are being implemented – even when they do not agree politically.

The rest of the world could learn a lot from that attitude.

Sygeplejersker og sundhedspersonale er pandemiens helte – nogle betaler med døden for deres heltedåd

Mere end 180.000 sundhedspersonale har betalt med deres liv under covid-19-pandemien

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Nurses and health professionals are the pandemic´s heroes – some pay for their heroic deeds with their lives

More than 180,000 healthcare professionals have paid with their lives during the covid-19 pandemic

If you are a nurse, SOSU assistant or healthcare professional who has worked with corona patients, I would like to thank you.

Healthcare professionals around the world have brought sacrifices, both mentally, physically and in the form of thousands of lost human lives in the healthcare sector.

The WHO estimates that up to 180,000 nurses, doctors, nurses, porters and health professionals in general may have died of covid-19 in the period January 2020 to May 2021. The WHO has stated that the figure may in fact be estimated 60% too low.

After nearly two years with this disease monster, nurses and health care professionals are at the brink of exhaustion. They are burnt out, stressed, suffer from anxiety and are tired to the core of their bones.

Here in the United States, many nurses are looking for work in other sectors of the healthcare industry to get away from the hospitals. This means that those who are left behind have to run twice as fast or compromise on the quality of their work because they simply cannot do everything.

I have followed the development from the sidelines. My friend works as a nurse at a hospital here in Seattle. She is a wound care nurse, so she comes into close contact with the discharges of vulnerable citizens. It is a job that requires hygiene standards to be followed closely. The job is made no less dangerous by the fact that many of those she treats are homeless, drug addicts and mentally vulnerable. They are often aggressive and unpredictable in their behavior.

For the first many months of the pandemic, she had to reuse her surgical mask for up to two weeks and was of course not vaccinated. She saw several nursing colleagues leave their jobs, after which she had to step in and cover their work. At the hospital, there is a constant shortage of nurses and the nursing positions in her ward have still not been filled. In several hospitals in my state, many surgeries are postponed indefinitely because the resources are spent on Covid patients.

Denmark has done formidably well, partly because the population, and thus also the health personnel, have had access to vaccines. Unfortunately, this is not the case everywhere in the world. In Africa, only one in ten in the healthcare industry is vaccinated.

Regardless of whether it is politically motivated when Denmark sends vaccines to a specific country in Africa, it helps the healthcare staff and the country’s population when the nurses are healthy enough to be able to take care of their patients.

In eight days, the G20 countries will meet. Between now and then, It is the goal to have 500 million doses produced and that at least 40 percent of the world´s population is vaccinated. Right now, it seems that 82 nations are not reaching that goal, mainly due to lack of access to vaccines.

Countries with access to and an abundance of vaccines have promised to provide 1.2 billion vaccines to those countries that are in short supply. But they have not yet lived up to their commitment. Only a total of 150 million have been reached. Meanwhile, the healthcare workers in these countries pay the highest price with their lives when they try to save their patients.

Once the vaccines reach the countries that still need to receive them, it is vital that healthcare professionals are the first to receive the jab that enables them to survive and save others.

If the health care system is on the verge of collapsing, we have no welfare, then a country’s system is collapsing. It’s that simple, and it does not matter what form of government you have. This applies to the welfare state of Denmark, and it applies to countries that do not have the same welfare structure as the Scandinavian countries.

The corona pandemic has cost far too many lives. Today, I bow my head in respect for nurses, ambulance drivers, porters and everyone else in the healthcare sector to respect all the lost heroes who paid the ultimate price with their lives.

(Partly Google Translate)

Tre oplevelser har lært mig, at det ikke er altid nemt at træffe det ansvarlige corona-valg

Hvornår melder man afbud, og hvornår vælger man at tage afsted til et arrangement med en lille tvivl i maven?

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Three recent experiences have taught me that making the responsible corona choice is not always easy

When do you cancel, and when do you choose to go to an event with a little doubt in your stomach?

“I’m calling because your son is not feeling well, so please come and pick him up at your earliest convinience.”

That´s the voicemail I received from my son’s after-school program yesterday.

Things are under control in little Denmark. In fact, the country has lifted all of their Corona restrictions. Throughout the pandemic the country has not seen the dreaded pressure on their healthcare system and the population have a pragmatic approach to getting the vaccines. Unfortunately, this is far from the case in the rest of the world.

When I received the message about my son, I was on my way to an outdoor BBQ event. The event was meant to mark the beginning of our first physical meeting in a year and a half for the members of the Advisory Committee I sit on for the Scandinavian Studies Department at the University of Washington in Seattle. I had been looking forward to the freshly caught Alaska salmon on the grill, a cool glass of wine in my hand, and reuniting and conversing with members who, like me, are passionate about promoting Scandinavia in our northwestern corner of the United States. The event was to be held outdoors and it was a requirement that everyone was vaccinated.

“You have to pick him up and take him straight to the test site,” I told my husband. “Then I’ll try to find rapid tests in the meantime.”

It quickly turned out to be quite impossible to find rapid tests anywhere. After four attempts a some phone calls, I gave up. My online order will arrive in the mail within the next two days. My son’s Corona test results will arrive within 15-48 hours. There is a lot that is different here compared to Denmark…

Maybe my son is just feeling sick because he has not been near other kids for more than a year and is now picking up bacteria. Maybe it’s just a lot to start in school and institution after staying in a house with his parents for so long without any other social stimulus. Maybe he really will test positive for the Corona virus. Maybe, maybe.

So what does one do? Do you cancel the social event that starts in less than an hour, or do you take the chance and bet that the test will come back negative?

A few weeks ago I gathered up enough courage and booked an appointment with a hairdresser. But not just any hairdresser. I asked my friend – who is a nurse and who is super diligent when it comes to being safe, her level of hygiene, etc. – which hairdresser she goes to. When I arrived, the lady was wearing a mask and was sanitizing the chair after her last costumer. “That´s a good sign,” I thought. We started conversing, as one does and I asked her if she had been vaccinated. “No,” was the answer to my great surprise. And for the time being she did not intend to do so either. “I’m sorry,” I said “I would love to support a self-employed female business owner, but I just do not feel comfortable with this.” In that situation, the choice was not difficult. It’s just hair, I can put it in a bun and almost forget that about my split ends.

Last week I went to have taken blood samples taken. Again, I started conversing the masked and gloved woman I was sharing the room with. While she was getting the needle ready, I asked about her vaccination status. I should not have done that, because while I was sitting there and watching the needle go in, she replied that she was afraid that the vaccine would affect her DNA. She was not vaccinated and did not plan to get the vaccine. I was shocked. Meeting conspiracy theories in a medical clinic in a city where more than 80% are vaccinated, is something I was pretty unprepared for.

I felt like yanking my arm away from her and rushing out of the clinic. But I stayed in my seat. And then I took a deep breath and started talking to her about the misconceptions about the vaccine without giving in to the far out indoctrination it turned out that her boyfriend had fed her. “It can be difficult to make a different choice than your surroundings if it creates conflicts at home and goes against the perception in the social circles one moves in,” I said, and she nodded.

In the state of Idaho, which borders my state of Washington here in the northwestern corner of the United States, they have just announced that, for the first time ever, they are forced to choose which Covid patients they choose to treat. The hospitals have no more capacity. Several patients have already been sent to our state. Healthcare professionals are now forced to choose to help only those citizens who have the greatest chance of survival.

The citizens here in the United States who are hardest hit are the non-vaccinated. The group consists of children under 12, those who for various health reasons can not tolerate being vaccinated and then the last group – namely vaccination opponents. 1 in 500 have died in the US – from a disease that could be prevented with two small jabs in the upper arm.

But the reality is that everyone has to make personal choices every day that weigh risks, pros and cons in their daily lives. In that equation, one can potentially risk taking another another person’s life.

Nej, det er ikke uamerikansk at gøre vaccinationer lovpligtige

At tvinge amerikanerne til at blive vaccineret ved lov er temmelig amerikansk – og en patriotisk løsning. I sin tid tvangsvaccinerede George Washington hæren for at redde nationens fremtid.

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No, it is not “un-American” to make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory – on the contrary, it is American and rather patriotic

George Washington forcibly vaccinated the Army – to save the nation’s future.

If more soldiers died from a preventable disease than from the enemy´s sword and you could save your men from dying by a single shot of vaccine, what would you do as Commander in Chief? – you would of course get your army vaccinated as fast as possible. That’s exactly what George Washington did in his day. I will get back to him.

Recently, the Ohio Republican Jim Jordan stated that it is “un-American” to make Covid vaccinations mandatory. But maybe Jordan should reconsider his words before lecturing poeople on what is American and what is “un-American.”

Before, during, and after the insurrection on January 6, Jim Jordan had several phone calls with Trump. That day, hordes of terrorists attacked the very symbol on what is American, namely democracy.

In the heated debate in the United States, the reference to “the founding fathers” is always slapped on the table as a debate stopper. In particular, it is Republicans who like to patent what they think these gentlemen would have thought about today’s issues. Currently, they pull out the founding father´s in the debate over Corona vaccinations.

Especially the always high-pitched Republican Jim Jordan has received media attention by saying Biden’s new vaccination mandate is “unamerican.”

But before he and other Republican politicians claim to own the right to know what is and especially is not “American”, they might want to readdress American history before lecturing the rest of us.

And here we return to George Washington, arguably one of the most “American” Americans. Back in his days, Washington soldiers died like flies, 90% of deaths in the army was due to illness. So what does a wise leader do in such circumstances? – he makes sure, of course, that he has people who can fight at his disposal who are not sick or dying. Therefore, in 1777, he mandated mass inoculation requiring all soldiers to be vaccinated for smallpox.

Let’s see Biden’s vaccination mandates rolled out, so society and schools can stay open. That way, we also ensure that school students learn their country’s history so they are able to refute blatant falls statements about our founding fathers and what is “unamerican” and what is in fact pretty patriotic.

(some Google Translate)

Danmark løfter alle Corona-restriktioner, imens USA strammer reglerne

Den danske vaccinations-succeshistorie trækker i dag overskrifter i amerikanske medier.

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Denmark lifts all Corona restrictions, while the US introduces new rules

The Danish vaccination success story makes headlines all over American media today.

Denmark was the first country in Europe to introduce Corona passport. The passports made it possible for Danes to maintain a semi-normal life. During the time passports were required for dining, attending schools, etc. more and more Danes got vaccinated. Thanks to the Danes’ sense of community, all Corona restrictions have now been lifted. On Saturday, a concert will take place in Copenhagen, more than 50,000 people have bought tickets.

Meanwhile, the conditions are, to say the least, somewhat different here in the United States.

I got my Moderna Covid-19 vaccine long before my Danish friends. But then the vaccination misinformation started in this cowboy country, and Denmark has long since overtaken the United States in terms of percentage numbers for how many in the Danish population who has received the vaccine.

Yesterday, we were informed that a family at a middle school here in the area had sent their child to school for five days after learning that child had tested positive without informing the school.

The students have been home from school for 540 days and have just been back for a week. What a mockery of the sacrifices it has cost the children, the families, the teachers and the schools, when they first had to deal with online teaching and now finally – with a sea of restrictions – are back in the classrooms!

Is it any wonder that the country’s second largest school district, located in California, now requires students ages 12 and up to be vaccinated if they want to be allowed to go to school?

Last week, 250,000 American children tested positive. We have gone from being at a level where 10,000 Americans tested positive a day to the figure now being 150,000 every single day. Every day, 1,500 Americans die from Covid-19.

Yet, many ordinary Americans will not take the vaccine. The hospitals are full of them. In several places the morgues have been filled up and refrigerated trucks have been called in. Cancer treatment is paused, non-life-threatening surgeries are postponed. It didn´t have to be like this.

Finally, Uncle Joe responds. He normally chies away from conflict. But not now. No more begging and enticing, no more carrots. Now he swings the whip.

On Thursday, Biden held a press conference, where he said, “What more do you need to know? The vaccinations are free, safe and easy to obtain. They are FDA approved. We have been patient, but our patience is running out.”

Politicians have tried to reach the skeptical vaccine opponents with carrots in the form of cash dollars, free education, beer and hot dogs. It has not worked, now the whip must come out, and it is about time.

If you do not want to be vaccinated for personal reasons, then you can not expect to be able to strut around either at work, in the supermarket or at school and spread your virus.

The grip has been tightened, and Biden now makes it mandatory for all public employees, contractors and health professionals to be vaccinated. In addition, employees of companies with 100 or more employees must be vaccinated or provide a negative Corona test weekly.

But Americans are a stubborn people who cherish their individual freedom as a fundamental principle even in situations where it is headlessly stupid. Even Trump was recently booed when he called on the audience to get vaccinated.

Opposition to the authorities telling people what to do has always been a part of this country. But it is insanity, when people are willing to risk their own and others’ lives for a principle they only understand the seriousness of when they lie in a hospital bed with tubes in their nostrils and gasp for air.

In the meantime, I hope that America turns her attention to tiny Denmark, which seems to have found the balance between respect for the individual’s needs and rights and a responsible health policy – now with freedoms we can only dream of in this Covid restricted freedom-loving country.

(mostly Google Translate)

Politikere i USA spiller hasard med børns liv

Klasseværelset er blevet en politisk covid-19-kampplads.

Læs hele bloggen her:

Politicians in the United States are gambling with the lives of children

The classroom has become a politically covid-19 battleground.

“Excited, nervous, ready!” – my daughter replied when I asked her how she felt. 540 days have passed since she last set foot in her school.

“Excited to come back and see my friends, nervous because I do not know how it will be, and ready to go to school again,” she elaborated as we were on the way to school while listening to the well-oiled K-pop, she thought would get her off in the right mood.

The schools my kids are going back to are significantly different than the ones they left. Masks are required, social distancing is enforced, there are allocated time slots to wash their hands and they are seated in designated places in the lunch room to make contact tracking possible when we get the first back to school corona infection outbreaks.

These measures are not in place in all public schools in America.

The state of Florida was the first to warn that they would withhold financial funds if the public schools required the children to wear masks. Since then, the states of Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah have come up with similar threats.

Need I say these states have a Republican governor? US President Joe Biden has committed to spend federal funds to pay if the governors make do of their threats.

A new low has been reached in the eternal political boxing arena. In this one, they seem to be willing to let children and their families pay the price.

Here in the United States, not all students have their first day of school on the same date. From the schools that have been going on for a few weeks, we know that there have been outbreaks and mass infections. In a classroom with kindergarten students, a teacher took off her mask as she read aloud to the class, while her students sat in a semicircle in front of her. The entire first row was infected with covid-19, even though they all wore masks. This age group has not yet been approved to receive the vaccine. Is it not the responsibility of adults to protect them and their families?

4.8 million children have tested positive in the United States, more than 200,000 alone last week. More than 2,000 children have been admitted to hospitals with covid-19, and many children have also infected their family members.

Quick tests are not widespread here in the US, as they are in Denmark, England and elsewhere in Europe. That is why the consequence of an outbreak becomes so much more serious for the schools here in the USA, because the infection can spread violently before it is discovered – a somewhat different situation than is the case in the Danish classrooms.

My daughter is in 8th grade. At her middle school, grades go from 6th to 8th, and the school has 1,000 students. Every day she has seven periods, and the school day is divided in such a way that after each period she collects her things and goes to her next classroom where a bunch of new students are waiting.

This means that on average in one day, not including her hallway walks to and from her classrooms, and those she is in contact with during her lunch break, she is in contact with at least 210 students daily, since there are at least 30 students in each class. You do not need a big calculator to see where that disaster train is headed.

I anticipate that in a few weeks we will receive an email stating that one of our children has been in close contact with a student who has tested positive. Then I think we will see a school system trying to juggle home and classroom teaching. The result is that not only my children but American children in general are given an unpredictable course of education that has consequences both mentally and academically.

The choice to send our children back to school has not been easy. It has been between whether we should keep them at home and find online education so that they do not become infected, or whether we should send them to school so that they can have a normal everyday life, knowing that they will be infected at some point.

How can schools be safe and secure places for children? Masks and vaccination are the answer. The delta variant is incredibly contagious, much more contagious than previous variants. However, we do not see the same increase in outbreaks where the vaccination rate is high and there is a requirement to wear masks.

Unfortunately, politicians are busy using schools as a venue for a ridiculous discussion that is completely out of proportion with the general advice from health professional expertise. In the fight to get media attention instead of thinking about the children, republican politicians have found a new low. American children will pay a high price for this.

(mostly Google Translate)