I think they started testing a lot more, they are only now implementing the main strategy that WHO recommended in March, which is to trace the infections and find who spreads it and how. The Swedish death toll is climbing and the only countries ahead in deaths per capita are nations that were considered disasters and even epicenters of the early pandemic, two microstates, and one country with a 10% bigger population on roughly 1/15 of the geographical area. It's a disaster, to put it mildly. Swedish media and politicians are busy engaging in one out of two strategies right now; one being shifting focus over on privatization and how it's to blame for the whole crisis (despite this being provably false) and the other being standing in a circle and pointing fingers at one another, regions, municipalities, the government, and the health authorities are all effectively blaming one another. If all else fails; blame the population for not following guidelines that were obtuse and anemic to begin with. And there are so many other bits and pieces that just blows the mind.

About infection rates, I'd say I agree with you, but this is another point where authorities have had zero inklings as to the actual state of things. In April, they stated that by May the 1st, at the very least 25% of Stockholm would carry antibodies. The antibody tests that came in during the last few days of April showed a mere 7.5 % or thereabouts. Authorities then complained that these were probably imprecise and too dated, and they would order a new batch of tests, these would for sure show numbers well above 25%. The mathematician who devised the algorithm they used clearly stated that they were probably way off in their base numbers (contrary to the authorities' position). The insufferable prof. Johan Gisecke has jumped between anything from 25 to 60% immunity in Stockholm before summer. When confronted with this flip-flopping, he merely stated: "we'll let that slide", and to make matters worse, it turned out that his "independent" advice and opinions in both domestic and international interviews were actually paid for by the health authorities.
The new batch of antibody tests arrived in early-mid June, and showed that about 17.5 % of the population in Stockholm carried antibodies, the majority of which work in sectors and positions that expose them more often, or simply people who had likely experienced mild symptoms at some point and thus were more likely to get tested.

Honestly, I'm shocked at how badly handled this is here in Sweden. No one is taking responsibility, measures have been taken to cover up the number of deaths or infections in certain areas, bogus confidentiality claims have been clamped on documents and correspondence to make it harder for the media to get to the bottom of things and people are pretending that well-known factors speaking against their "strategy" of choice doomed it from the beginning were somehow shocking reveals in hindsight clarity (chiefly the lackluster situation in retirement facilities and care centers for elderly and their woeful lack of protective gear all over the country). Goddamn. And still, they insist that it's all down to the entire world "not understanding" the situation or "having the wrong image" and not actual incompetence on their part.

What irritates me most atm is the level of inconsistency and still hearing (on the radio) that masks are probably useless (but wear them anyway to make other people feel better). They are not useless sigh.

Inconsistencies:
- Supermarket, some patrons wear masks, staff doesn't, nor gloves while handling everything.
- Vet clinic, wait outside on the parking lot, they come get your dog with their leash, wearing gloves and a mask, no people allowed inside.
- Golf course, staff wear masks and gloves (outside) and clean the carts after use.
- River tours, no masks, 10 per boat, everyone together in vans to be driven back.
- Chiropractor / health center, no masks or gloves (staff not patients) just some extra cleaning.
- Restaurants/bars, cramped make shift patios on the sidewalk / parking spaces, at least not inside... no masks.

Current forecast

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/hotspots-linger-more-young-people-getting-covid-19-new-modelling-1.5004137

New national modelling on the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada shows that “hotspots” remain in Ontario and Quebec, and the percentage of younger people contracting the virus has increased in proportion to a decrease in older patients in the last month.

Federal health officials are projecting that as of July 12 the country could see between 103,940 and 108,130 cases, and between 8,545 and 8,865 deaths. To-date there are 103,818 confirmed Canadian COVID-19 cases, of which 64 per cent have recovered, while there have been 8,566 deaths.


On the right track for now, however we just went into phase 2 re-openings last Friday.

Dr. Tam said that in order for COVID-19 to “die out” in Canada, effective reproduction number (Rt) — the average number of people infected by each case—needs to remain below one, and Canada’s Rt rate has been less than one for eight weeks.

Tam also cautioned that outbreaks have also recently been linked to social gatherings, particularly in closed settings with close contacts like funerals or other family gatherings. She is advising people to limit keep the number of close contacts people have and avoid enclosed and crowded spaces.

Tam warned earlier this month, that Canada could see “explosive growth” in new cases if reopening is not done with caution. The figures showed that, if the spread prevention measures are insufficient, Canada could have another peak come October.


Testing still insufficient

Going forward she said the capacity for contact tracing and isolating new cases will need to continue to increase. Over time the testing rates and case detection have sped up, though Canada is still only testing on average of 38,000 people daily, when Tam has previously said the target is closer to 60,000.



Living in a summer tourist hot spot, we better stay extra careful. Cases went back up today, 9% increase compared to last Monday's 3 day average. The decline was only temporary :/ And while it's moving more among younger people, that also means more asymptomatic cases and cases with mild symptoms for which people might not bother to go get tested.


Wednesday is Canada day, we'll see how that goes. People have been setting off fireworks for the last couple days already, they can't wait. It's very dry outside as well, tinder box...

No disease could cause that many deaths.  A giant meteor maybe.

China has greenlit the military use of a vaccine candidate that showed promising results in Phase I and II trials.

This marks the first approval of a COVID-19 vaccine for use outside clinical trials.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-vaccine/cansinos-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-approved-for-military-use-in-china-idUSKBN2400DZ

See? That's what I was talking about. IT HAS to be done this way; there's simply no time to be waiting for Phase III to complete.

Wtf is happening in the US. Over 40k cases on a Monday. I understand states like Georgia and Florida who didn't take the pandemic seriously spiking but California, Washington, and Ohio and other states that took the pandemic seriously are spiking. Im starting to get worried the rest of the country is going to make it worse for us in the northeast again. Pennsylvania is even starting to crack. They were are 300-400 daily cases for most of the month but now at 500-600. I really hope things dont start to get worse again here in NY.

I still think taking this approach for the general population would be far too risky. What if it kills people with a specific pre-existing condition? What if it only works in 75% of cases, so people lose faith in vaccination and we never get a high enough immunity coverage to eliminate the disease?

There's already multiple candidates in Phase III, we need to hold on until one of these proves out as both safe and effective before beginning widespread vaccination. Note that even China isn't giving the test vaccine to its general population.

Australia except for the state of Victoria. The morons. - 75 new cases there the other day... Because people thought protesting was a good idea.
And because of the uptick in cases we have toilet paper shortages across the entire continent again, so now Victoria is forced to go back into lock down.

Most states that have opened their borders are staying closed to Victoria... However many "Grey Nomads" are selfishly taking back roads to get into other states. (Australia is vast at the end of the day, we can't lock down every road.)

In saying that, the Australian heat persisted until late March anyway when the virus started to gain traction so we were still exhibiting warm weather, the weather does have an effect on viral transmission, it's just not the biggest or only factor.

Most of the cases in Victoria weren't linked to the protests. More were connected to family gatherings and people not self-isolating while awaiting test results. So still idiotic, but contrary to what the a lot of the media and the Liberal Party are claiming, the spike wasn't precipitated by the BLM protests.

Hmm... and what prompted families in Victoria to gather more than in the other states? and why people not self-isolating while awaiting test results would affect Victoria more than the others?