From the beginning of this series, a year and a half ago, we noted, "The geographic area and population of Illinois are both similar to those in Sweden, and there are similarities of the Chicago and Stockholm metropolitan areas. But Springfield politicians are hazardous to your health." More hazardous than the latest coronavirus variant, which, apparently, more readily evades the latest vaccines, but appears to have mutated into something that doesn't "appear to be more serious" than the earlier mutations.
The verdict is in. "Sweden Wins! Country That Refused Lockdown and Kept Schools Open Has Lowest Pandemic Mortality in the World." Not only that, the Swedes did better on excess deaths from causes other than coronavirus. That despite Worldometers reporting more infections but fewer attributable deaths in Illinois. In the United States, the restrictions themselves were deadly. "The 'experts' and leaders who pushed these failed policies need to be held accountable so they can never perpetuate an injustice like this again."
The emergency decrees for the United States taken together, as well as Illinois, remain in effect, if in modified form. The emergency is over. The emergency powers should be rescinded.
These posts will continue until the emergency decrees end. This is what a majority of Illinoisans voted for. I retain the right to call attention to what they've inflicted on themselves, and it's going to be fun come January, when two years of inflation adjustments to the motor fuel tax kick in, and later in the year, when the sales tax moratorium on groceries expires. In addition, the winter fearmongering about coronavirus, flu, and other respiratory ailments is under way again, and I'm seeing more people masking up in stores or riding alone in their automobiles. Meanwhile, letter carriers in Chicago are being hunted for their master keys to cluster mailboxes in apartment complexes and office parks that don't have individual curbside or in-house delivery. The most recent flight of fantasy out of Springfield, which will do nothing about that sort of crime, is a ban on some firearms. "The law is hard to defend on logical, practical, or constitutional grounds." There are county sheriffs who give a low priority to enforcing it. The potbellied dictator issues empty threats to have such sheriffs fired. As is to be expected, people stocked up on weapons ahead of the law, which might not hold up in court, being signed.
A service called Worldometers has been keeping track of coronavirus infections and deaths, disaggregated in a number of ways. With local, state, and federal governments in the United States changing the way they count infections (and they might be rethinking how they classify deaths) I'm not sure how valid any numbers, even from a service consistently used from month to month, is.
The latest report from Sweden counts 2,697,840 infections, up by 47,471 from last month, and 22,610 deaths, a change of 929 from the preceding report.
The latest report from Illinois counts 3,969,832 infections, an increase of 763,031 over last month and 40,678 deaths, adding 272 to the Pritzker Body Count in one month. End the emergency decrees.
The most recent tally of vaccinations gives around 26 million doses of the various vaccines, initial course or the various boosters, or perhaps reformulations, administered as of January 13. The state also appears to have ended their count of the scary variants, although the page has been updated to January 1 to show a mix of Omicron variants circulating.
At the end of the fall semester, the governor trailed by 19,204.
At Veterans Day, the governor trailed by 19,284.
At Columbus Day, the governor trailed by 19,436.
As Oktoberfest season began, the governor trailed by 19,467.
At the start of the academic year, the governor trailed by 19,611.
At Bastille Day, the governor trailed by 19,567.
At Flag Day, the governor trailed by 19,295.
At Syttende Mai, the governor trailed by 19,149.
At Patriots Day, the governor trailed by 19,243.
At St. Patrick's Day, the governor trailed by 19,580.
At Valentine's Day, the governor trailed by 19,533.
At the National Day of Service, the governor trailed by 17,062.
Note the time series: a margin of terror that used to be growing by hundreds in a week has been growing only slowly. The details for earlier in 2021 and the end of 2020 are on page 2.
2021 ...
At Beethoven's birthday, the governor trailed by 14,796.
At Veterans Day, the governor trailed by 13,981.
At Leif Erikson Day, the governor trailed by 13,101.
At the start of the professional football season, the governor trailed by 12,307.
At Roller Coaster Day, the governor trailed by 11,502.
As of 7 June, 10,887.
As of 1 June, 10,810.
As of 24 May, 10,645.
As of 17 May, 10,520.
As of 10 May, 10,417.
As of 3 May, 10,310.
As of 26 April, 10,216.
As of 19 April, 10,167.
As of 12 April, 10,169.
As of 5 April, 10,167.
As of 29 March, 10,125.
As of 22 March, 10.095.
As of 15 March, 10.070.
As of 8 March, 10,017.
As of 1 March, 9,933.
As of 22 February, 9,857.
As of 15 February, 9,693.
As of 8 February, 9,623.
As of 1 February, 9,662.
As of 25 January, 9,739.
As of 18 January, 9,727.
As of 11 January, 9, 860.
As of 4 January, 9,595.
2020 ...
As of 28 December, 9,057.
As of 21 December, 8,414.
As of 14 December, 7,815.
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