There are just over 6,500 km separating Copenhagen and Washington DC, but the Americans seem to be very interested in what is happening here right now.
The self-appointed chief researcher is Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, a Harvard epidemiologist who has taken to Twitter to write nearly 20 posts commenting on graphs and figures published by the Statens Serum Institut, as below.
MY GOD – Danish political leaders have completely lost their insanity by releasing everyone # COVID-19 attenuations – these are exponential WAVING DEATH NOT CASE !!! That’s what happens when a country’s leaders turn on the gas for their own citizens. #CovidIsNotOver pic.twitter.com/O7bfcwRuMQ
– Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) February 15, 2022
SSI has undertaken to combat what it considers to be misinformation. To do so, it has patiently responded to tweets from Feigl-Ding and others. It has even started translating its graphs to make sure everyone can understand the subtitles.
Read the report and the thread!
Dark blue bars are the number of newly admitted SARS-CoV-2-positive patients receiving Remdesivir and / or and Dexamethasone, standard COVID-19 treatment. The green curve is the proportion of SARS-CoV-2-positive patients receiving COVID-19 treatment. https://t.co/cIRVfB5oPh pic.twitter.com/gbUb7kml7z– Tyra Grove Krause (@TyraGroveKrause) February 14, 2022
Tyra Grove Krause is executive vice president and medical epidemiologist at SSI.
To push their political agenda
Feigl-Ding is not the only one who looks at Denmark and calls on his government to put an end to all restrictions. And all those who do are not American.
Walter Ricciardi, a special consultant for the Italian Minister of Health, went on national television and used the Danish example to push a political agenda. Many users drew SSI’s attention to this fact.
Hi @SSI_dk. Please consider the possibility of taking a stand against false data used to support political agendas. https://t.co/q7ozB72ltn
– Cippalippissimo (@cippalippissimo) February 15, 2022
Polarized debate
As in any debate, there are two sides: Those who believe that the Danes have gone mad and would rather spread their truth instead of looking at the numbers properly, and others who believe in giving the public the whole picture, albeit with numbers , which is quite shocking.
On SSI’s side are researchers such as Claes de Vreese, a Danish professor at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR). He told Feigl-Ding that he respects him, but that he should stop spreading misinformation.
Dear @DrEricDing. I follow you with interest and respect. You are fast and highlight important aspects.
But please stop #misinformation The official health authorities @SSI_dk have repeatedly shared correct numbers with you. Do not ignore. Do not spread misinformation. https://t.co/XodzqSpV24
Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese February 15, 2022
A few hours later, he added the direct link page created by SSI whereupon they tackle his points with misinformation.
Is the pandemic over yet?
“Viruses have no ears,” Feigl-Ding writes, and they can not hear when politicians say the pandemic is over.
13) Danish leaders must keep in mind that “the viruses have no ears” and do not listen to any political propaganda that “COVID is over”. We need to use the science of both vaccines and contraindications to get it back to normal. Hope and denial are not valid strategies. #CovidIsNotOver https://t.co/NTQFqZ61mH
– Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) February 15, 2022
However, no politician said the pandemic is over yet. What was said at the press conference on January 26 was that Covid-19 would not be considered a socially dangerous disease.
In fact, Prime Minister Frederiksen wrote in a speech the same day that: “from 1 February, Denmark will be completely open again. […] This is firstly due to the fact that so many Danes have been vaccinated. ”
As the graph shows, 81.53 percent of the population was fully vaccinated on February 14th. That’s about 17 percentage points more than the U.S. population (64.25 percent).
The announcement continues: “And secondly, the authorities assess that Omicron typically leads to a milder course of the disease. Denmark is therefore overall very well. Does that mean the pandemic is over? No it does not. Corona is still with us. And we have a special responsibility as a society to take care of our elderly and vulnerable – especially now. Everyone should feel safe when restrictions are lifted. ”
What and who to believe
It is certainly true that Denmark has reported more daily COVID-19 cases than most other countries:
But it also tests many more people than the other countries:
Source: The Nordic Page