Covid: Why most of what you know is wrong

In this book, the Swedish doctor Sebastian Rushworth examines some of the most central questions about the Covid-19 pandemic: How deadly is Covid-19?What is long Covid?How accurate are the Covid tests?Does lockdown prevent Covid deaths?Why did Sweden have more deaths than other Nordic countries?What are the harms of lockdown?Do face masks stop Covid?Are the Covid vaccines safe and effective?Why did the world react so hysterically to Covid?Sebastian Rushworth is a junior doctor in Stockholm, Sweden. His blog about health and science is widely read across the English speaking world. In Covid: Why most of what you know is wrong Sebastian Rushworth demonstrates that Covid-19 is nowhere near as bad as it is portrayed by the mainstream media. He shows that the mortality rate is below 0.2%, meaning that for most people the risk of dying if infected is less than 1 in 500 (and less than 1 in 3,000 if you’re below 70 years of age). The disease preferentially strikes people who are anyway very close to the end of life, so the amount of lifetime lost when someone dies of the disease is usually tiny. Ther author also shows that 98% of people who get Covid are fully recovered within three months, and that there is no good evidence that Covid results in long term health consequences.Moreover, he points out that the measures taken to fight Covid, such as the lockdowns, the huge fear campaigns and the school closures, will result in far more years of life lost than will be lost to the virus directly. The data used in the book is publicly available, and frequently published in some of the most prestigious and respected scientific journals in the world.Advance praise by dr. Malcolm Kendrick:"Covid-19 has triggered a pandemic, and a panic. Many people are bewildered by the avalanche of information, often contradictory. On his blog, Sebastian Rushworth has been a voice of calm reason throughout, trying to help people make sense of what is going on. As a front line doctor in Sweden he has had a front-row seat, and keen understanding of the disease, and our response to it. He takes the reader though some of the science, in order to explain what he is talking about. It is clear, it is reasoned. He believes that the Swedish response, although widely critizised, has been based on good evidence, and may end up being seen as the best way to have handled the pandemic. If you want a guide to what is really going on with Covid-19, then I fully recommend this book. You will end up with a much more complete understanding, which is what we are all looking for, I think."