A week or so ago I wrote about self appointed experts and their “we should be doing things my way” approach to this Corvid 19 crises. They know best and by implications everyone else, especially the Government, doesn’t. Well if I had hoped things would calm down then it is yet more proof as to what a fool I am. Of course it hasn’t and now that we are all supposed to be in some form of lock down we are starting to hear the cry of the “treatment being worse than the illness” or words to that effect.
This is just as bonkers as the other form of so called expertise because all these views assume they know what the mortality rate is for this disease and they are placing a disgusting monetary value on people’s life. Now I know decisions along these lines are made all the time in a war situation but not where placing greater importance on Pounds, Shillings and Pence (Yes I am that old) rather than ordering some people over the top in hope to save countless more people.
Yes the economy is vitally important but only as subservient to human life. This is one of the reasons why we have a free at the point of use health service so that people don’t have to weigh up whether they can afford to be treated or not. Of course I suspect some of the people who are putting this argument forward might prefer we don’t have the health service we have at the moment but that is a whole other argument.
When will people just accept that we just don’t know how this is going work out. Not one country has worked out the best way forward. We appear to have some sure signs as to how not to deal with this disease but even this is far from clear. If you think I am talking out of my arse then I suggest you listen to the latest 538 podcast on all the uncertainties that surround the whole issue of Corvid-19. Perhaps one of the most chilling uncertainties is that we don’t even know how many deaths have been caused by the virus because of different counting practices around the world. If we don’t know these basic things how on earth do those of us who are not fully briefed on the best evidence think we can second guess the decisions that have been made?
I know that last sentence sound like I am giving the government a blank cheque to do anything they think fit, however bonkers, but it really isn’t. The Boris Johnson government has made huge errors along the way and these need to be pointed out and they need to be questioned about these things. However, to think that we know better when we most likely don’t is just self serving nonsense.
Perhaps my frustration about this all is best summed up in Matthew Seyd’s article in today’s paper:
I challenge the online ‘experts’ so critical of No 10 on coronavirus: tell us, has Sweden got it right or wrong?
And of course the answer is – nobody knows. Perhaps they have but equally perhaps they haven’t?
