Britain faces prolonged period of excess deaths due to effects of lockdown(dailymail.co.uk)
dailymail.co.uk
Britain faces prolonged period of excess deaths due to effects of lockdown
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11491871/Chris-Whitty-warns-Britain-faces-prolonged-period-excess-deaths.html
5 comments
If all else is equal, not violating western / liberal norms, not in some cases violating or ignoring constitutions, and not depriving people of liberty seems the good sign to err on, rather than appeasing mob panic. Most countries aimed for the latter
really I don't think they did. I think the public health professionals did what they had been planning, since the last major pandemic.
This wasn't "the people demand it, or the mob will lynch us" this was "this is the plan we have, which we have rehearsed for, which we think we understand"
Except, as a large number of generals have said: "No plan survives the dawn of battle" -The WHO focussed on fomites, not airborne until PM2 air quality specialists forced a re-think. And we got vaccines far sooner than anyone expected but we didn't understand the volatility of the virus against those vaccines. And, we got diverted into treatment models which didn't work, in a highly politicised space worldwide, as people started floating bizarre beliefs rather than allowing public health models to do their job.
Some places did go into deprivation of liberty pretty hard, yes. Some still do. No, I don't think most western democracies violated their constitutions, I think you're in a different headspace to me there.
This wasn't "the people demand it, or the mob will lynch us" this was "this is the plan we have, which we have rehearsed for, which we think we understand"
Except, as a large number of generals have said: "No plan survives the dawn of battle" -The WHO focussed on fomites, not airborne until PM2 air quality specialists forced a re-think. And we got vaccines far sooner than anyone expected but we didn't understand the volatility of the virus against those vaccines. And, we got diverted into treatment models which didn't work, in a highly politicised space worldwide, as people started floating bizarre beliefs rather than allowing public health models to do their job.
Some places did go into deprivation of liberty pretty hard, yes. Some still do. No, I don't think most western democracies violated their constitutions, I think you're in a different headspace to me there.
People didn't just drop dead from heart failure during the great depression. 6000 people are dying a week in the USA from unspecified reasons.
Basically, pandemics don't stop. they go on as a long tail. The policy is about trying to change the shape of the curve, but the length of the tail is not really going away, you just move who it applies to I think.
I don't blame public health officials for trying. It's good to try. I don't personally think the Swedish stoicism (for instance) was either "morally" or functionally better than the lock-downs. It just altered who died, and who has long-tail consequences.