Zimbabwe and Covid

 This is a little story over Covid and how things worked in an odd way.

So in Zimbabwe, Covid arrived in the spring of 2020.  They got all the way to July of 2020.....before Covid deaths started up (remember, their winter starts in July....at least to what you'd describe as just a rainy season).  Five deaths in one single day were confirmed.

For the record, Zimbabwe has a population of around 14-million, and size-wise....it's about the same as California in terms of size.

In terms of new cases?  They were averaging around 100-to-140 per day, in that first big wave of Jun-Jul-Aug.  Naturally, you'd say....it's a third world country, and they simply aren't testing at the same rate.  Around December of 2020, the rate bounced way up....with deaths reported daily at around 20 to 50 a day for the entire country.  

Shortly after Christmas of 2020....an unusual matter occurred where in a ten day period....three key ministers in the cabinet of Zimbabwe passed on, from Covid.  Then the government did this odd thing....they approved ivermectin as a Covid drug.  The death rate from 31 January to the end of February?  It dropped like a rock.  Five deaths were reported on 1 March 2021, from Covid.

They get all the way to June.....with an average of 1 to 3 deaths per day noted.

June sees a dramatic rise in Covid deaths....eventually rising to a max of 81.  Since 21 September 2021?  Well....its been around zero to four (on average) daily.  That's it.  

So here's the odd factor....if you asked the health folks about the vaccination rate?  it's around six to seven percent.  That's it.

Ivermectin alone doing this?  I doubt it.....there's probably a vitamin D angle to this, and some odd local practices.  

Getting Ivermectin?  Well....before this came along....this was a normal prescription drug....given out for a very cheap price.  After the approval for Covid....the price kinda escalated.  If you wanted a 'shot' of Ivermectin....that was going up to around $5 (US).....probably ten times of the previous price.  Yeah, some folks were still getting rich off what was a cheap drug.

Should you even bring the Zimbabwe thing up in conversation?  No.  An intellectual would say it's a 3rd-world 'hell-hole' and the data is all faked-up.  To be honest, before Covid came along...Zimbabwe averaged around 111 deaths per year per 100,000 residents....from the flu/pneumonia.  I would imagine that if you dug through the numbers....it was mostly older people who fell into the death numbers (just like Covid).