//And, even if it is, is it still any reason to let the disease run rampant from now on//
The disease will run rampant unless everybody is kept away from everybody else – forever. It runs rampant here whenever people begin mixing; it is beginning to spread badly even in Australia where they have seemingly locked themselves away from the rest of the world for the past fifteen months. All locking down does is delays the spread. We’ve done that here. We’ve done it to protect the NHS (tick); to save lives (tick); and to buy time for a vaccine rollout (tick). We’ve done the lot.
For those interested in numbers, here’s something quite significant. The last time infections (7 day average) rose from 3,000 to 24,000 (i.e. 800%) was between 14th September and 13th November. On 14th September the number in hospital was 935. By 13th November this has increased to 15,394 – an increase of more than 15 fold. On 14th September the 7 day death average was 12. By 13th November that had increased to 404 – an increase of more than 32 fold. By contrast the latest 7 day infection rate has increased 8 fold since 27th May. On that day 870 people were in hospital. Last Wednesday (latest figures available) there were 1,795 (just over double). The seven day average of deaths on 27th May was 8. This has increased to 18 (1.25 fold).
The only conceivable reason to continue restrictions is “just in case.” “To be on the safe side.” For example:
- Are you so sure that this will definitely continue through the next few months, 10CS?
- What about Winter?
- -What if a new variant emerges that is resistant enough to vaccines that it breaks through the current protections?
Indeed. “What if…?” “What about?” “Are you sure?” What if an entirely new virus rears its head and the whole thing kicks off again? Well the country cannot continue like that. The NHS has already been overwhelmed – simply not by Covid patients, so that's alright then. Except there are now more than 5m people waiting for treatment. Many of them have either remained undiagnosed or untreated whilst the NHS prioritised its efforts on Covid and many of them either already have died or will do so prematurely. The economy has been overwhelmed. The government has borrowed more money to “fight” this virus than it did to fight WW2. Children’s education has been slaughtered. All this needs to stop. The NHS is there to treat the sick and injured, it is not there to be protected from having to do so. All restrictions need to end and the only people who should be tested henceforth are those displaying symptoms (solely to find out what they should be treated for). If not, the benefits of a successful vaccination programme (which are more than just preventing people becoming ill or dying) will be lost.