How Do They Do That ....?

[KARL]

There has been quite a bit of discussion as to how well the UK and other countries are doing regarding the pandemic. This link may be of interest as to what so far are the most successful approaches - which then serve as explanations of where failures have occurred (differences in perception/mindset/approach/culture being important, hence the choice of category for this post):
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/16/world/coronavirus-response-lessons-learned-intl/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_content=2020-04-16T06%3A31%3A02&utm_source=fbCNNi&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR1DhI5u28AGyLnUABGF5YXGOryPjaxnG-iP1TH9jiUvM5EBBYPGsMrcdk8

[KARL]

....and another
https://youtu.be/oRjrt-B64yY

[fiction-factory]

So Iceland has tested 5% of its population. So that's 5% of 364000. So around 18000. Pretty good.
We have done about 250000 but out of 65 million so that's only 0.5%.
Testing needs to be systematic of course not random so we'll have to see how it pans out.

[KARL]

Iceland has now tested in excess of 11% of the population.

[KARL]

That should be almost 11%

[NickorWan]

You were right first time, KARL, according to Worldometers - 111,955 per million population.

[Spicerack]

Some of the data from Iceland is interesting but it's not definitive proof of anything. Even the chap in the first video says that.

[KARL]

The data as such are not proof of anything regarding the nature of the disease, as he indicated, but they do prove how the country has responded to the pandemic and the information it offers for research purposes and in turn that serves as a comparison with other countries. To suggest the data serve little or no purpose in comparisons would be erroneous - many countries (undoubtedly including the UK) would wish their statistics/data looked as good.

[Spicerack]

Of course it'd be great if we had tested 100%.
But you can't extrapolate from such a tiny base.
We'd have to have tested 7,000,000 to equal Iceland.

[KARL]

It is stating the obvious that the UK cannot match Iceland in the current situation (or past ones for that matter).

[Spicerack]

Well, their bankers were certainly in a class of their own. ;-)

[KARL]

You raise the most recent example of UK bullying of Iceland. The UK (wrongly) blamed Iceland for the UK's experience of the 2008 worldwide bank crisis and accordingly placed Iceland on a list of terrorist entities, used its considerable influence to block IMF and other loans to Iceland. Further, the UK made substantial demands (knowingly sufficient to completely crush Iceland) for reparations of which ultimately ended up in an international court - the UK not only lost but was reprimanded for its conduct. My understanding is that UK local authorities, etc. ultimately had their money returned voluntarily by Iceland. Iceland recovered from the crisis quicker and better than the UK and continues outperforming the UK on pretty much every socio-economic measure.

[fiction-factory]

Okay then, their volcanoes.
Can we crowbar in a "that's why mums go to Iceland" reference

[Spicerack]

My understanding was they voted not to pay us back.
Can't say I blame them either.

[KARL]

No, in a referendum they voted against a deal which included punitive conditions imposed by the UK. The UK pursued the claim in court and were thrown out (a humiliation not generally spoken about/publicised in the UK so you understandably never heard).

[Zacs-Master]

Over 95% of Iceland’s population live in cities. This makes testing people far easier. This is exactly what I was saying about holding up one country as a paragon to condemn our own, without looking at the underlying facts, so thanks for citing Iceland as that’s a real easy one to use as an example of skewed data.

[ToraToraTora]

Karl, never miss a chance eh?

[ToraToraTora]

Karl, clearly in your eyes we are the worst country in the world so why are you here? You have 194 better places to choose from, surely some of them will have you? Or are you a grass is greener type? ie any country you live in would automatically become the worst country in the world.

[KARL]

Zacs, different sources put urban dwellers at around 84% in the UK as a whole and Iceland at 94%. If you were to take Scotland on its own then I believe the figure would be closer to Iceland's and the spread not dissimilar - very lop-sided (Central Belt in Scotland, SW in Iceland). I don't think if Scotland approached things like Iceland and got similar results that the statistics would be seen as skewed and/or irrelevant (unless success is). The UK has its lop-sidedness too and, after all, the difference between 84% and 94% is hardly a game changer regarding statistical significance in the exercise under discussion. To the scientific community (and international politicians too) Iceland's exercise remains an interesting example.

TTT, I was talking to someone abroad last summer, she remarked how sad it was to observe a former important country (the UK) being just a shadow of its former self. I agreed entirely. The difference between you and me is abundantly clear: I wish the UK would pull itself up and aspire to more than being a has-been, surely it could if it tried. It is sad to see mediocrity/mistake/failure all around on issue after issue and it is frustrating to observe the determination to face backward toward the past, to avoid seeing things as they are. Yes, I can be relied upon to wretch whenever new examples arise.
You can also be relied upon to round on and castigate anyone/anything that points to things not being perfect in this country. You represent the forces that prevent improvement. That is your prerogative and I have no desire to prevent you living in your world. I will not castigate you. Just you continue complaining over what bothers you, I'll continue to (vainly ?) hope for awful comparisons to change into better ones.

[ichkeria]

There is nothing wrong with “hindsight”
It depends how you use it.
Using to rewrite history is bad, using it to learn is good.
Germany has been streets ahead of the UK on this from the start. But that’s not the fault of the current government. They’ve had a testing capability streets ahead of ours from the word go.