COVID - WHEN THE CURE IS WORSE THAN THE DISEASE

COVID-19 case numbers are said to be rising, although the evidence is unclear. Are numbers really rising or is there simply more testing, and hence more positive cases, being recorded ? The 'Omicron' variant is said to be more infectious, but is this also a figment, created by an increase in testing ? What cannot be denied is that, despite apparently greater numbers of infections, hospital admissions remain at a far lower level than in the height of previous upsurges of the epidemic and the number of deaths recorded daily "with COVID" has barely changed over the last few months. "With COVID" is, of course, not quite the same thing as "of COVID" in any case.

Thankfully, the UK government has yet to offer a 'knee jerk' response to the latest developments and we are told that there will be no new restrictions on our freedoms before the New Year; at the same time, it's suggested that the so-called 'rule of 6' may yet be re-introduced before too long. Sadly, the people of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have already been hit with additional controls.

The evidence in support of further restrictions is scant, bordering on the none existent. For once, it seems that the UK government has got it right while, the socialist administrations in Wales and Scotland have been carried away by their innate desire to manage peoples' lives, and that in Northern Ireland has fallen prey to its fears of past events as well as of the European Union.

While the lugubrious Mark Drakeford and desperate Nicola Sturgeon seek political advantage through their increasingly authoritarian approach to this epidemic, the scientific evidence continues to indicate that they have both picked the 100-1 outsider in a two horse race. COVID-19 is on its way out and will soon be seen to be little more of a real threat than a bout of influenza or, even, the common cold. COVID is not smallpox or 'the plague'; it has far more in common with Legionnaires disease, HIV or BSE, all of which were publicised as being mortal dangers to the entire world population when they were nothing of the sort.

COVID-19 is a new virus and can be dangerous, especially to those with other morbidities or poor life styles. To the vast majority of the population, it is little more than a minor inconvenience. Unfortunately, the measures introduced to control a minor inconvenience have proved rather more dangerous to every day life of most of us than the virus itself. The societal, economic and financial consequences will be with us for decades to come, while the disruption to the education of those at school and university may well have even longer term impact.

COVID-19 will be little more than a memory before very long; the consequences of the measures taken world-wide to combat it will be with us for much, much longer.