Sometimes I read the weekly report of the RIVM. I always think my own so I try to avoid it. Today I saw Gommers on the front page of the AD and I became curious again so I read the tidings of fear from a few days ago. I started with a FB post as a response but it soon becomes too long and I want to get rid of it anyway. And to think that this is only about the headline and the introductory paragraph. Close Reading, shall we say.
The estimated number of infectious people in the Netherlands has been decreasing for 6 weeks in a row. See the rivm graph: according to them the peak was on October 14. (That's strange, by the way, because you only saw the growth of 'RIVM infections' level off around October 20, I remember that because I described that good news then here. This aside.)
Definitely a relatively worrying R0 out of 1
Enfin, terug naar het bericht van deze week: "Worrying increase in the number of COVID-19 reports" kopt RIVM desondanks. Al weken (maanden) wordt er moord en brand geschreeuwd. Zo ook weer deze week. Meldingen zijn killing, je zou zeggen, stop daar dan mee.
Then follows, in the next paragraph:
"The percentage of people with a positive test result has risen to 11.6%. In the week before, it was 11.1%."
From 11.1 to 11.6 is an increase of 4.5%. Whether that is worrisome for mid-December is not further explained. No context, no reference, as always. Meaningless figures, framed with frightening words.
RIVM: "Last week, 27% more new reports of COVID-19 infections were reported than a week earlier."
So 27% more infections while there were only 4.5% more positive tests. Those infections must then be detected without testing, there is no other way.
rivm: "The reproduction number is still about 1."
Apparently I have to attach importance to an R number that indicates that each 'patient' causes only 1 infection, while the number of infections is increasing alarmingly. An increase from 11.1% to 11.6% is 26%.
Just knock me out.
And such people tell me that I have to have something injected?
Prikangst is mij vreemd. Zo wordt het in de media genoemd als je geen vertrouwen hebt in dit vaccin: "prikangst", iets voor kinderen of dommeriken. Nu heb ik absoluut geen prikangst; ik injecteer mijzelf regelmatig en ben daarvoor erg dankbaar. Sterker nog: ik was altijd fervent pro-vaxxer, maar op deze manier maken ze het zelfs mij tegen. Ik vertrouw die knoeiers eigenlijk niet meer. En dat straalt af op vaccinaties in het algemeen.
In short, they are doing a very bad job with this communication in the context of public health.
Now I recognize the deliberate confusion of tongues: the RIVM mixes absolute numbers with percentage numbers, just as they lump the concepts of 'infections', 'reports' and 'positive tests' together.
It is contradictory, substandard and above all tendentious communication. Vaccination will and must be responsible, that's what it seems. Their tunnel has only one exit.
In the meantime, we are stuck with gas that should actually fall to the ground, unhealthy face masks, distance rules that fail in the most risky environments and a test that does not test what we want to know. And that in an incapacitated economy and desocialized society, topped off with a mysterious vaccine that will infringe on physical integrity. Topped with a jumble of data that will result in years of analysis work, it wants to be turned into meaningful information one day.
Plenty of inspiration, I'm having fun. But those poor youth...
What you take away from the youth now, they will never catch up
The discussed message can be found here: https://www.rivm.nl/nieuws/zorgwekkende-stijging-aantal-meldingen-covid-19
