How to end lockdowns

Busy making decorations for the festering season at the direction of Mrs S. I’d be happy with a sprig of holly, some mistletoe and a bit of tinsel around our aspidistra. However, with the possibility that lockdowns will be eased over Christmas, we may find our self hosting ‘North’ and suitor. Which would be nice. She likes him a lot, so I will strive not to embarrass her if they do make it this side of the Irish Sea this year. We have the bed and living space. That and it would be good to see her in person again. I also wish ‘South’ would have a bout of good luck and end up being able to visit us from the fabled land of Oz this year. Sadly, this may not be the case.

Notwithstanding, while my hands have been busy I found myself wondering how we get out of this endless cycle of liberty and economy destroying lockdowns? You know, the ones that no-one seems to be paying much mind to out here in the wilder west of the Emerald Isle.

What is obvious is that the evidence is clear. Lockdowns do little or nothing to halt the spread of a disease, any disease. Quarantine works only so long as no-one breaches it. What does work is shielding the vulnerable, the people in care homes with serious health problems until SARS/COV-2 has finished passing through the main population. Locking down everybody means that process is delayed and the damage done, both economically and epidemiologically speaking is far greater, with ironically a higher death count than if we had done nothing.

At this stage of the game, masks aren’t much use by the general public either. The science and the basic numbers are also clear. Peer reviewed and validated study after study confirm that this is the case. By contrast, the panicmongers statistics are simply numbers tortured out of context, doing nothing but to create unwarranted fear. Yes, SARS/COV-2 is a nasty flu bug, nastier than usual, about as nasty as the 1957 Asian and a few other influenza’s since. You know, flu outbreaks we never locked down for?

For a disease like COVID-19 there is no need for a vaccine because it has already burned itself out. Coronaviruses do this. If we managed to shield the vulnerable for six months, there’s no one left to pass on the disease because the rest of the population have been exposed and either brushed it off or become immune. Because the wider population would have already become immune there would be no residual sink of infection, as would be required for re-infection at some later date. Once the disease is done, it’s done. And like a seasonal flu it is done.

All we have to do is as follows; make the lockdown voluntary. With the sole exceptions of hospital and care home residents and workers. In short, shield the people most likely to be harmed by infection. Those who want to be frightened and hide at home can do so. No one should force anyone to wear a mask, ‘social distance’, or hide in their home. Those who choose can work from home, abstain from travel and exclude themselves as much as they like. No employer should discriminate against such people for isolating themselves. The rest should carry on as before February 2020.

As for being on the ‘wrong side of history’. The erudite Mr Cummins & co have a few choice words about that.

The alternative is the growing groundswell of public discontent and dissent, which will not be quelled by threats of censorship. All censorship has ever done is drive a topic underground and make it grow much bigger than it ever could under any other circumstances. The truth always leaks out, one way or another. History teaches us that this is true. Repeatedly.