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| Store shop closed due to COVID-19 lockdown. PHOTO BY STOCK PHOTO /Getty Images |
A few weeks ago, British philosophers Ian James Kidd and Matthew Ratcliffe wrote about «Covidworld, our new altered reality where accepted norms do not apply.» They note how the entire planet is captivated by COVID-19 as the one and only issue of importance. And they describe the «enormous and wide-ranging collateral damage caused by lockdowns and other measures.» Like many critics of the ongoing tunnel vision on SARS-CoV-2, I am concerned about the lack of proportion in our collective response and allege that this response is not backed by the facts about the pandemic. Responding to questions raised in a Toronto Sun column, Ontario Minister of Long-Term Care Merrilee Fullerton confirmed in October that the COVID-19 death toll in LTC homes was comparable to that of the 2017/18 flu season. We also do not know, or are not told, how many hospitalizations occur due to serious cases of COVID-19 rather than other unrelated illness, where the patient just tests positive upon admission or gets infected in hospital.
The publicly available COVID-19 statistics currently rely on the PCR test, which may be unsuitable for monitoring key trends in the pandemic. In addition to collecting accurate and meaningful data, we also need to correctly interpret them. If we are warned of possible long-term effects of COVID-19, let’s investigate how they compare to the long-term effects of other respiratory diseases. At this point, common sense alone should tell us that the collateral damage that the pandemic response inflicts on our physical and mental health will be far greater than the harm from SARS-CoV-2.
Let’s quit the mass hysteria around COVID-19, follow long-established hygiene and healthy living guidelines, focus protective measures on vulnerable groups, and restore everyone’s right to live a normal life.
Source: Dr. Claus Rinner | Toronto Sun
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