On One Hand. Covid 19 and "Epidemiological Stupidity"

 

The World Health Organization has a warning for governments eager to lift Covid-19 lockdowns. Getting it wrong is epidemiological stupidity.

The WHO head of emergencies, Mike Ryan, says premature lifting of lockdowns can backfire. (well, duh)

Addressing the speed of countries’ plans to reopen Ryan added that in particular countries with low Covid-19 vaccination rates, combined with the lifting of restrictions, threatened a “toxic mixture”.

Ryan said this was a time for extreme caution, but added that each nation had to make its own decisions about what precautions to take against Covid-19 and the lifting of restrictions.

It's the age old admonition about "act in haste, repent in leisure." 

Ryan cautioned against a “premature rush” back to normality.

“For a lot of the world this thing is only getting started,” Ryan said. “I’m very pleased for countries that are getting this under control. But please spare a thought for those living without vaccines.

“All of the countries of the Americas, we still have nearly one million cases a week. It isn’t over.”

“The same in Europe – in the European region, we have half a million cases a week. It’s not like this thing has gone away.”

We all want to turn back the clock, party like it's 2019.

...William Hanage, a professor of the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvard, suggested that uncertainty remained over the outcome of ending of most restrictions in England.

“This is going to produce a few things – first it will be hospitalisations and deaths, but far fewer than at the worst stage of the winter. This is certainly good news, or maybe better than the worst case scenario.

“On the other hand with the reopening planned there will be huge amounts of infection, and … a lot of people are going to feel pretty darned sick even if they don’t need a hospital bed.

“The long term impacts are not known.”

Some countries that have loosened restrictions on issues such as mask-wearing, like Israel, have been forced to back track.

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