No doubt people in the 14th century thought that the 'Black Death' was going to wipe them all out - it didn't. Later the deadly scourge was smallpox which again failed to kill off the human race. Today, it's a newly rampant coronavirus from China which has the world's politicos in a lather.
There is an obvious difference between the world of today and that which endured the Black Death and smallpox, that is, today we know what causes such diseases and can treat them while the people of earlier centuries could do no more than trust in the Almighty to save them. However, these days it's our political masters who have taken it on themselves to play the part of God and do the saving. In order to do this they have to first inflate the scale of the potential catastrophe to mind-boggling proportions.
This is what was done with the HIV / AIDS epidemic which we were all told would destroy us unless we did as we were told and employed 'safe sex' methods. In truth, anyone who was not a homosexual, did not engage in anal intercourse, did not use the services of prostitutes, was not an intravenous drug user and did not have regular transfusions of blood from potentially infected sources, was never very likely to contract the disease. In fact, it was highly unlikely that they would but this did not stop our masters from telling us a very different story. We were all at terrible risk, but they would save us from ourselves.
A few years later, SARS came along and, again, panic ensued. In the end, the outbreak did not last long and affected a few thousand people mostly in China and its surrounding area; a mortality rate of around 10% sounds rather frightening but the total recorded deaths was less than 800. Despite the facts, politicians of all sorts still exaggerated the problem and used it to their own advantage.
Next it was MERS, although far less may have been heard of this one, and now it's the Wuhan Virus which doesn't yet seem to have gained an acronym - perhaps WRVS (Wuhan Respiratory Virus Syndrome) or is that one already taken (Women's Royal Voluntary Service !). As with SARS, this infection is almost wholly contained within China and the few cases recorded outside of that country are in people of Chinese origin or who have recently visited China. Also as with SARS, the actual number of cases is small, a few thousand at most, and the mortality rate appears to be far lower at around 2-3%. However, the media has behaved as though Armageddon is upon us and politicians have behaved accordingly. Borders have been closed, masks issued, travel curtailed, migration denied.
Set against the outbreaks of SARS, MERS and the latest Wuhan pandemonium, every year several million people contract influenza and several hundreds of thousands may die. EVERY YEAR ! Why, then, is the world in such a panic about a virus which has infected no more than a few tens of thousands, almost all in one country, China, and which has a mortality rate of around 2% only ? Yes, it's a new challenge, yes it may spread beyond China but is it really the horror that's been suggested ? Surely, as long as people are sensible and hygienic (that is, they stop sneezing and coughing all over their hands, sleeves and passers by) the danger is minimal.
Of course, I may be wrong and the Wuhan virus may spread much further and become far more dangerous, though I doubt it. The likelihood is that the outbreak will fade away as quickly as it's arisen and will be virtually forgotten in 5 years time, unless someone comes up with a really snappy acronym for it. The chances of it killing any of us first are remote, although that won't stop the politicians of all flavours making a huge song and dance about protecting us, in the hope that it will put them in a good light with their electorates. They will, of course, be egged on by every manner of special interest group and all the loonies who see nothing but gloom and despondency around every corner, not to mention the media which likes nothing more than a good scare story to increase their audience or readership.
We need reality and common sense, not political hype, when confronted with such issues. What chance we will get either ?
No comments:
Post a Comment