Covid: Moving from government-inspired hysteria to a common sense approach
'contrary to what the Government experts would have you think...that hospitals were close to overflowing...at least half didn’t have a single Covid-19 patient'
UK’s Daily Mail has been a loan voice in questioning the government response to the Covid virus. I applaud its bravery.
These extracts are from a piece by Ross Clark on 20th November this year. You can read it here.
What they DON'T tell you about Covid: Fewer beds taken up than last year, deaths a fraction of the grim forecasts, 95% of fatalities had underlying causes... and how the facts can be twisted to strike fear in our hearts
- Despite the fearmongering, the number of Covid-19 deaths is significantly lower than the peak back in April
- Latest ONS estimate shows that in the week ending November 14, new infections were already levelling off
- GCHQ staff have been embedded in a Cabinet Office team in Downing Street to provide Boris Johnson with real-time updates of Covid-19
- Analysts will sift through vast amounts of data to ensure Boris Johnson has the most up-to-date information
How accurate were the Government’s grim predictions?
The short answer is: not very. In a July report commissioned by Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, scientists estimated that there could be 119,000 deaths if a second spike coincided with a peak of winter flu. Yesterday, that figure stood at 54,286 – less than half that.
In fact, the second peak seems to have passed – over the past week there has been an average of 22,287 new infections a day, down from 24,430 the week before.
In mid-September, Sir Patrick made the terrifying claim that the UK could see 50,000 new coronavirus cases a day by mid-October unless more draconian restrictions were introduced. Yet we have never got near that figure.
What about its prophecies on deaths?
Ditto. Its warnings simply don’t bear any relation to reality.
During the ‘Halloween horror show’ press conference used by Sir Patrick and Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty to scare the Government into implementing a second lockdown, one of their slides suggested that daily Covid-19 deaths could reach 4,000 a day by December.
Are hospitals close to full capacity?
The answer is ‘no’ – contrary to what the Government experts would have you think after they last month published a chart that gave the impression that hospitals were close to overflowing, when at least half didn’t have a single Covid-19 patient.
Currently, only 13 per cent of NHS beds are occupied by patients with Covid-19.
On Monday this week, 16,271 hospitals beds across the UK were taken up with patients who had tested positive for Covid-19.
This did show a steady rise from the previous Monday, when there were 14,279 patients with Covid.
But to put this figure into perspective, the NHS in England had 101,255 general and acute beds available in March of this year plus 15,392 in Scotland and 10,563 in Wales.
The full article provides an antidote to the line the government, other newspapers and media are pushing (particularly the BBC).
The Mail on Sunday November 22nd makes another appeal for common sense in an article by Lord Sumption, former Supreme Court Judge. You can read it here.
Extracts:
Our lives belong to us, not the state. It's morally wrong for government control freaks to tell us what we can do at Christmas
The debate about whether to let us have a family Christmas perfectly sums up what is wrong with this Government's handling of Covid-19.
For Christians, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of a redeemer. For everyone, it is a celebration of life.
But we all understand that if mixed generations attend a church service or enjoy Christmas lunch and a sing-song together, there is an increased risk that someone with Covid-19 will pass it on to others.
Understandably, many people believe the only thing that matters will be the risk of death or serious illness.
They will want to isolate themselves with a meal alone, and their decision should be respected.
But for many others, there will be a range of values in play which are at least as important: family, love and companionship, human contact, generosity of spirit, beauty and spontaneous joy.
The question is not which group is right. It is whether we should be allowed to make the choice for ourselves, instead of having it imposed on us by law.
There are many different answers to the dilemmas of a Covid Christmas....
Read more here.
Peter Limbrick writes: I remember when the then government and most newspapers and media were champing at the bit to invade Iraq. There was a concerted fear-mongering campaign telling us that Saddam needed only 45 minutes to launch weapons of mass destruction. Ministers and intelligence experts lined up to tell us to be very scared. Then it was proved to be false, but it needed much bravery to go against the government message at the time.
