Sure, I think it was (maybe 'is') very difficult to see a GP in the UK as well, which didn't/doesn't help.

The question of capacity is the important one. You can spend hours trying to evaluate claim and counter-claim about capacity in UK hospitals if you have the time and stamina. My feeling is that it is - overall - being exaggerated by the media, but you are welcome to check it out for yourself.

I don't know enough the situation in LV, other than the official stats and people I know who work in Gailezers. The only thing I would say is that if Formica's data about the decline in hospital beds is true, then that was a bad and short-sighted move. I don't know about the number of doctors, nurses etc. I guess they are fewer, too.

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I am not commenting on UK, as I know almost next to nothing about it. My mother-in-law in Manchester says hospitals are empty there, but then again, she is only looking at hospitals from outside, and Manchester is below UK average on covid so far.

As regards LV, the situation with beds of course is rather bad.

However, the problem is deeper than simply NUMBER of beds, as many smaller hospitals outside major towns have had rather bad reputation for quality of treatment, at the same time having subscribed to major long-term investments in infrastructure by buying expensive equipment, when they could.

NHS in Latvia has long and deep problems starting with requiring interns to pay(!) for their opportunity to work at hospitals [hint: no other country I know does this. you may not be paid much, but you have opportunity to earn money by working in medicine as you learn, rather than having to have an outside job just so you can make ends meet], and ending with pharmaceutical company lobbies and high level corruption in a number of areas.

The problem is -- who dares to gainsay medical establishment, when you don't know when you will need the next medical treatment?

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"The problem is -- who dares to gainsay medical establishment, when you don't know when you will need the next medical treatment?"

Vot :)

We amateurs though have to educate ourselves, though. Maybe that's something positive from this nightmare.

Thanks for your description of the situation in LV. It chimes with what I have heard. BTW, what do you know about what I had assumed was just a rumour, namely relatives being paid not to dispute the cause of death being Covid? I had written it off as bollocks, until a good friend confirmed his partner's family had been offered 400 Euro (which they refused). Are hospitals receiving extra funds for Covid patients? I still have no idea.

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US tas attiecas uz kaadiem 60 miljoniem (Medicare)

https://www.dailywire.com/news/yes-hospitals-get-paid-more-for-coronavirus-coded-patients-even-if-they-havent-been-tested

".. if it’s a straightforward, garden-variety pneumonia that a person is admitted to the hospital for – if they’re Medicare – typically, the diagnosis-related group lump sum payment would be $5,000,” ... “But if it’s COVID-19 pneumonia, then it’s $13,000, and if that COVID-19 pneumonia patient ends up on a ventilator, it goes up to $39,000.”

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jā par to es biju dzirdējis. Bet vai kaut kas lidzīgi notiek šeit?

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"..in July, the Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko issued a statement to his people describing how the World Bank and IMF offered him a Bribe of $940 million in the form of a CoVid relief aid package and demanded he crashed the economy, impose a police state, force people to wear face-masks and impose extreme lock-downs" Batjka vinjus pasuutiija un shajaa raundaa krietni vinneeja. Paareejie aciimredzot ieliida IMF cilpaa

https://blpp.co.uk/2020-a-retrospective-look-at-something-bigger/

Banksteri uzgjenerees nulles, cik iegribees, galvenais, lai veelaak var savaakt valstis, kas apbankroteesies https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/11/04/imfb-n04.html

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I have heard nothing about such cases. I find it implausible that any such scheme could be held in secret for long here in Latvia, if it were on large scale. Perhaps it has not yet made its ripples, and we'll hear about it soon?

On the other hand, how could any simple mortal "dispute" cause of death, which is written by the medics? Cause of death is something that medics write in, and you don't get to say "no, no, he is just resting!"

As regards COVID itself... well. The main issue with conspiracy theories is that they are not any much more believable than official statements. Not because they describe something impossible, but because they are not thorough enough -- too little data, and only describing the interpretations which suit the theorists.

Then again, consider where it all supposedly started - China. They have by now apparently quashed the COVID spread and China is now supposedly COVID free.

What do they do now? I read a journalist's account who was visiting his sick father in China, and as I understand that's what they apparently do to ALL foreign visitors without exception:

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3117363/my-trip-through-chinas-extreme-covid-19-quarantine

Now, while China is quite prosperous I find it hard to believe they would care to put such extreme measures on all travellers if they didn't think they made good sense for them.

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