Pits of Despair Part Six: The Final Chapter

VI

Meh. I did not have the energy. I’m still here.

I came this close to being a collateral damagee. So many others were not so fortunate. In an article from May 28th, Zaria Gorvett of the BBC writes, “From a famine of ‘biblical’ proportions to a deluge of undiagnosed cancers, while we’re all worrying about the coronavirus, most fatalities could be collateral damage… Across the globe, patients have reported being denied cancer care, kidney dialysis, and urgent transplant surgeries, with sometimes fatal results.”

The writer then goes on to enumerate other causes of morbidities and mortality, including self-induced abortions and dental extractions, and disruption to the control of diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. Deaths from illnesses such as cholera “could far exceed those from Covid-19 itself.”

The pandemic disrupted vaccination programs in at least 68 countries and WHO figures that 80 million children under one are now at risk of diphtheria, polio, and measles. Child fatalities would “be from pneumonia or dehydration due to diarrhoea, while for women, they would probably be due to complications from pregnancy or childbirth- haemorrhages, eclampsia, and sepsis.”

In the United States alone, the COVID pandemic could lead to 75,000 additional deaths from alcohol, drug misuse, and suicide.

Let that sink in.

In a post dated August 18th, an uncited author states that “Three factors, already at work, are exacerbating the deaths of despair: unprecedented economic failure paired with massive unemployment, mandated social isolation for months and possible residual isolation for years, and uncertainty caused by the sudden emergence of a novel, previously unknown microbe.” (4) Emphasis mine.

Our approach to the virus needs to change. There ARE signs of hope. Mark Edward John Woolhouse FRSE FMedSci OBE (born 1959) is professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the Usher Institute in the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviors that advises the government. Now that the collateral damage from governmental mandates has been done, he's had time to review the facts, the forecasts, the science, and the outcomes. He says:
"At the time I agreed with lockdown as a short-term emergency response because we couldn’t think of anything better to do," he confesses. It was a "panic measure."
"I believe history will say trying to control COVID-19 through lockdown was a monumental mistake on a global scale. The cure was worse than the disease. I suspect right now more people are being harmed by the collateral effects of lockdown than by Covid-19."
"This," says Woolhouse, "is why we need a broader range of people on the government advisory board SAGE [Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] with equal input from economists to assess the damage to incomes, jobs and livelihoods, educationalists to assess the damage to children and mental health specialists to assess levels of depression and anxiety especially among younger adults, as well as psychologists to assess the effects of not being able to go to the theatre or a football match."
"I would not dignify waiting for a vaccine with the term 'strategy.'"