For NEARLY two years we – the press and the public – have been almost hypnotically absorbed by the daily coronatal of the authorities.
WE HAVE STRIKED on the swings of the pendulum when it came to those infected, hospitalized and dead with corona. And we have had the meaning of the pendulum’s slightest movements explained to us by experts, politicians and authorities who have constantly warned us about the slumbering corona monster under our beds. A monster just waiting for us to fall asleep so it can strike in the dark of night, Ekstrabladet writes.
CONSTANT mental alertness has taken its toll on us all. So we – the press – must also take stock of our own efforts. And we have failed.
WE HAVE NOT BEEN vigilant enough at the garden gate when the authorities needed answers to what it actually meant that people are hospitalised with corona and not because of corona. Because it makes a difference. A big difference. To be precise, the official admission figures have been found to be 27% higher than the real figure for how many people are in hospital simply because they have corona. We only know that now.
IT IS, OF COURSE, primarily the responsibility of the authorities to inform the public correctly, accurately and honestly. The figures on how many people are sick and dying from corona should, for obvious reasons, have been published long ago so that we had the clearest picture of the monster under the bed.
Overall, the messages from the authorities and politicians to the public in this historic crisis leave much to be desired. And so they lie as they have done when sections of the population lose confidence in them.
ANOTHER example: vaccines are consistently referred to as our ‘super weapon’. And our hospitals are called ‘super hospitals’. Nevertheless, these super-hospitals are apparently under maximum pressure, even though almost the entire population is armed with a super-weapon. Even children are vaccinated to an enormous extent, which has not been done in our neighbouring countries.
IN OTHER WORDS, THERE IS something here that does not deserve the designation ‘super’. Whether it’s the vaccines, the hospitals or a mixture of all is anyone’s guess. But the way the powers-that-be communicate with the public certainly doesn’t deserve the label ‘super’. Quite the contrary.