Tweet [1]
J.D. Tuccilli concludes that “freedom looks all-too insecure in the post-COVID-19 world.” [2] (DBx: I wish that I could honestly say that I disagree with Mr. Tuccilli’s conclusion, but I cannot. I believe that he’s correct.)
Martin Kulldorff is heroic [5]…. as is, too, Sunetra Gupta [6].
The straw man is not eager to leave Great Britain [7]. And see this item from Sherelle Jacobs [8]. Two slices:
Far from being fully liberated on “Freedom Day” next week, Britons will merely be out on parole.
In the end, it only took a week of rising cases and scientific outrage over the “dangerous” and “premature” lifting of restrictions for the Prime Minister to wobble. Days after senior ministers were unapologetically vowing to ditch their masks, [9] Mr Johnson has clarified that citizens will still be “expected” to wear face coverings in crowded areas. With public transport and many shops likely to continue to consider masks mandatory, the state’s shift in position now seems purely theoretical – from legal enforcer to moral endorser of Covid rules. Nor is the Government encouraging a mass return to the office. Instead, we are told it should be “gradual”. There are plans, too, to encourage some form of immunity certification [10], even for entry to pubs and restaurants.
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The PM has also set the tone for a tightening of restrictions in winter, should the situation deteriorate. The easing of lockdown is no longer “irreversible”. As Covid reaches endemic equilibrium, hospitalisations could well rise to hundreds a week (as is often the case with seasonal influenza). Meanwhile, the waiting list for urgent non-Covid care could rocket to 13 million. In such a situation, the NHS would be stuck in a trap. Its doctors will clamour for lockdowns to keep Covid admissions down. But further stay-at-home orders would risk worsening the backlog, as even more non-Covid patients put off seeking urgent help.
TANSTAFPFC (There Ain’t No Such Thing As Free Protection From Covid.) [11]
Ramesh Thakur rightly decries governments’ infatuation with “glamorous models. [12]” A slice:
As is by now well known but studiously ignored by our politicians and most media, Florida has been pretty much open since May 2020 and Texas since March this year. Neither has become the predicted death chamber that ‘public health experts’ warned. The return of normality also means that their citizens are once again rebuilding natural immunity against life’s regular infections compared to the steadily growing immunocompromised cohorts in the lockdown states. The Guardian reports that New Zealand is already paying the price of an ‘immunity debt [13]’ with paediatric wards flooded by babies with a potentially deadly respiratory virus. This is the same argument as the dry tinder effect with bushfires. Because Covid lockdowns suppress the circulation of bacterial and viral infections, babies have failed to develop natural immunity to other viruses. As public health professor Michael Baker explains, ‘we’ve accumulated a whole lot of susceptible children that have missed out on exposure – so now they’re seeing it for the first time’.
Thus the cult of safetyism through lockdowns increases our exposure to future epidemics.