11/24/21 (Europe time)
Covid-19 is treated in the mass media as a very dangerous disease in the face of which mass vaccination and severe restrictions for the whole society are applauded despite few deaths beyond the risk groups. But in Norway, it has now been decided to treat it like other respiratory diseases, such as influenza or the cold virus, because according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health it is no longer more dangerous than these.
Originally published 9/23/21
By Free West Media
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health FHI has made the remarkable, but statistically supported, decision to classify Covid-19 as a respiratory disease that is as dangerous as the common flu. It is clarified that the pandemic is not over, but that it has entered a new phase where Covid-19 is now equated with a common respiratory disease, such as a flu or respiratory infection. This is done, among other things, due to the mutations that the Coronavirus has undergone, which makes it less dangerous, together with increased natural and vaccination-induced immunity that has been achieved in Norwegian society.
Although the infection itself continues to circulate in the population, this does not mean an increase in hospital stays, which in itself means that the Coronavirus no longer creates a large burden on healthcare in Norway. This is because the vast majority of those at risk are protected. Those who are vaccinated also get severe symptoms and those who are not in the risk groups also usually only get ordinary mild cold symptoms. FHI thus makes the assessment that the Coronavirus now joins the ranks of other respiratory viruses such as the common cold and seasonal flu.
“It is something positive and sends out signals that at least in Norway, at the moment, they consider themselves aware of the situation,” said Niklas Arnberg, professor of virology at Umeå University and chairman of the Pandemic Foundation to Aftonbladet.
More contagious but less dangerous
The FHI believes that the pandemic itself is not over because it is still out in the world and is spreading at the same time as the proportion of people vaccinated worldwide is low. As long as it spreads outside the territories of rich countries, it will be a continuing pandemic, it is said.
With fewer in the high-risk groups who are in need of healthcare, the burden on healthcare decreases sharply.
The second factor is one that is well known, namely that viruses with very few exceptions over time on purely evolutionary grounds develop towards becoming more contagious but at the same time less lethal. Sars-CoV-2 has undergone thousands of mutations and different variants have replaced each other in the rate of spread and degree of infection, but which have continuously proved less and less deadly. This spread also continues among vaccinated people as the degree of vaccine protection against this variant is lower than against previous variants, which also enables its continued spread, even in countries where the majority of the population has been vaccinated...
Influenza does not require mass vaccination
The significantly improved situation in Norway means that they choose to classify Covid-19 as a respiratory infection of the same degree of danger as influenza. This does not mean that it is seen as harmless, but rather that just as in the case of influenza, it is believed that it can be managed and that the risks for patients with a Covid-19 or influenza infection are comparable and that it is for people in the risk groups.
“The total societal costs for virus-caused diseases can be tens of billions of kronor every year, without us having a pandemic,” Arnberg told Swedish daily Aftonbladet. He cited common colds and stomach ailments as causes for this.
The future looks bright
By the winter, it is suspected in Norway that the hospitals will not be burdened with patients who have fallen ill with Covid-19, but instead there will be a mixture of Covid-19, other respiratory infections and common flu.
“I think we have reached the top this time. Then I think instead that we will get a winter wave that comes later. But we do not think it will be bigger than the healthcare system can handle,” Geir Bukholm told Verdens Gang.
According to FHI’s assessments, the infection is on the decline, fewer people become seriously ill, very few die and Norway’s assessment that Covid-19 is no longer more dangerous than a common flu looks increasingly correct.
(excerpts)
source:
https://freewestmedia.com/2021/09/23/norway-reclassifies-covid-19-no-more-dangerous-than-ordinary-flu/