So you think the "real" number in the US is closer to 140,000 than it is to 70,000?

Yes. The real number right now is certainly no less than 110k.

In denmark our excess death is like ~4,5%.
And basically match up to our reported number of Covid19 outcomes of that nature (we've had 484 deaths so far to it).
NYT basically said we re the "only" honest country about deaths and covid19 reporting, out of the 60+ nations they looked into.

Alot of other european countries have also started counting nurseing homes, home deaths, ect.
So I doubt theres "twice" as many deaths in europe as reported.

Im willing to believe that in the US, with alot of people being scared of hospital bills, fewer people than probably should, seek medical help.
Thus number of people that die at home, due to a blood clot and have heart attacks (from covid19) is likely higher than in most european countries.
People that "think" they can make it, and then just sleep in, never to wake again (from covid19), are also higher there.

It makes sense to assume, that in the US more people are dieing at home, than in europe.
And that these people arnt tested and counted towards the total. Which to be fair, also happend earlier on in alot of european countries.

UK recently corrected their death total for nursing home deaths, adding over 4K deaths but spread out all the way back to early March, and now they're (trying) to be accurate and include them right away. Belgium has done some corrections, France as well. So indeed not all countries are far behind in reported deaths.


The fear of catching covid19 at the hospital is also adding deaths. ERs here have 30% to 40% fewer cases with free health care. Then when people come in they have a good chance to die from an already burst appendix... But also for covid19, sticking it out at home until it gets bad (because more comfortable at home etc) can quickly go wrong. In hospitals they said that it can literally deteriorate from breathing to gasping for air in seconds.

Then you also have people dying due to hospitals having cancelled all elective surgeries, transplants on hold, chemo therapy stopped. Indirectly killed by the pandemic.

Then you have things that are the opposite of what you would expect. You would expect fewer traffic related deaths due to much less traffic

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2020/04/09/covid-19-cuts-car-crashes-but-what-about-crash-rates/

The number of car crashes is indeed plummeting due to lower traffic volumes on American roads, but the rate of car crashes is actually up in many cities — as are the injury and fatality rates for both drivers and vulnerable users.

Evidence is beginning to emerge that absent traffic jams during the coronavirus crisis, many drivers are getting more reckless. And because speed is the number one predictor of crash severity, the proportion of people dying per collision is on the rise in many communities. It’s an important asterisk that’s largely missing from media reports about the COVID-19 outbreak’s effect on our streets, and one that should prompt leaders of these cities to consider other ways to slow down cars through emergency modifications to road design.


So not all those excess deaths are from covid19, but definitely due to covid19. Afaik there are no other disasters going around atm.

Social distancing report for May 3rd, beautiful sunny Sunday, C-

One thing I can applaud Sweden for is keeping the parks open. I've been saying it since the beginning, closing the green spaces and most of the trail was a bad idea. Today started with a bunch of people launching their canoes down the ramp at the end of my property. I guess the regular canoe launch 2 streets over is closed. Not a whole lot of room there, it's marked private property as well, but I've always let people use the access to the river there. Anyway it wouldn't have mattered, they were all close together anyway, handling the same things, using each other's cars to ferry them to the end point etc. No social distancing.

I went out for a bike ride in the afternoon, looking for nice empty gravel roads between Paris and Woodstock where I normally don't encounter a soul. First to get out of town, pretty busy on the roads. Then passing the trail head to one of the trails that's still open. Normally I only see one to three cars there. Today, double parked, jam packed even though it only fits 20 cars (well it doesn't but they made it fit somehow) Good thing I didn't go to the trail... (Not relaxing in the weekend anyway with the extra quad and cross bikes there since the crisis started)

A bit further out of town, a shortcut over an old rusty bridge with a bit of river access there. Normally I hardly ever encounter anyone there all year, maybe one car parked at the end of the road where the shortcut trail starts. Today, 14 cars parked there! People fishing, cross bikes, and a couple yahoos blocking the other exit with a canoe while standing their talking in the gate opening. I went through the field lol.

Thus onto the empty gravel roads, not busy, but also not empty. Not much social distancing where I did see people, although the lone rider on a horse was by himself. (First time I've ever seen a horse on that road lol) On the way back I passed the ice cream stand, normally maybe one car and some people walking up. Today 10 cars parked, more people walking in. At least the ones operating the stand were taking orders, while wearing a face mask and gloves, with a mobile credit card machine. (And I assume bringing it to the cars) This is what it normally looks like (red trailer in the back is the ice cream stand)

But really, what is more important, human lives or a fucking ice cream cone.

Yep, I fully expect a nice uptick in cases by the end of next week.


One cool sighting, I spotted the windmill train coming by in the distance.

Appropriate with the high winds today :)

That's Canada ;) where we close all the green spaces and tell people to keep 2 meters apart in the spaces that are left lol.

Those things are an eyesore on the skyline, but it beats smog. Solar panels are doing fine here as well, but it's all still just a drop compared to hydro and nuclear energy. I wonder what's going to happen to all the renewable energy sources credits now we're upping the national debt at an alarming rate :/

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/canadians-expect-things-to-get-ugly-think-more-pandemic-aid-needed-nanos-1.4921966

To date, the Canadian government has received more than seven million unique applications to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and has paid out more than $25 billion in aid money. This week, Parliament fast-tracked and passed a $9-billion fund for students struggling during the pandemic.



Little set back for Canada:

Provincial health officials announced the discovery of 1,317 missing confirmed cases of COVID-19. The cases were missing because of a computer error. Quebec also announced a daily increase of 892 new cases and 69 deaths.

Instead of the usual Sunday slump in numbers, 800 over the previous record today :/

Shhhh... Gotta keep official numbers low.  Least we aren't Iran underreporting numbers.   Hey least we didn't cause catastrophe in middle East like Yemen.  Oh shit.  They are fucked.  Maybe we shouldn't have supported Saudis. 

I'd like to see death toll in Yemen.  I want to see where my government bombs are dropped.  Apparently Saudis like to drop bombs on food markets and schools in Yemen with US supplied weapons.

They sure look better than cell phone towers :)

I'm due for a new roof and have been toying for years with the idea to install solar panels. We're at 43 degrees North, still good for solar in the summer anyway. However my roof or rather my house is at the wrong angle. The solar panels would either be facing East or West :/ Making steps out of them against the roof orientation, no clue if that's advisable with the blowing snow during the winter.

When you buy a house, check which way the roof is facing!

In denmark something like 44% of our energy is from renewable sources, now.
We had a "2020" plan (from long ago) where our goal was to hit 50% by the end of 2020.

Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland are the same basically (or ahead of denmark in % of energy thats from renewable sources).

Thats a legit worry, imo.

We're down to 5% of 'polluting' energy sources, gas and other. Over 25% is from water, 10% alternative (wind mostly, solar and a little from biomass) and 60% nuclear energy. Which is carbon clean anyway, but not renewable. Since nuclear is cheaper, less money to stimulate wind and solar farms will keep us hanging on to the ageing nuclear plants. Some will still be needed for peak demand anyway. Plus we sell power to the USA

https://live.gridwatch.ca/home-page.html

Not much solar generation yet, it's only 9:30 am :)