If you are still reassuring
yourself that we just need to be British about it all, please read these two
accounts by hospital doctors in Italy, which spell out what happens when
medical services are overwhelmed:
Note from the above that other
life-threatening emergencies remain untreated, even unassessed. It’s not just
Covid-19 victims that will suffer. These medics tell us we must take great care
with old and vulnerable family and acquaintances, to reduce the chance that
they may have to come calling on a system that can do nothing for them.
Once again, please read the above
accounts.
Veteran Conservative commentator
Iain Dale reminds us https://www.iaindale.com/articles/its-time-to-reverse-the-decline-in-nhs-bed-numbers-updated
of the long-term decline in the UK’s hospital bed provision, something he
warned us about two years ago. According to this ranking on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_hospital_beds
, our beds per capita are fewer than Italy’s, and one-third of Germany’s
(which could help to explain the latter’s lower Covid-19 fatality rate.)
Meanwhile, over in Moneyland, we
have the insane, Shkreli-like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Shkreli
unempathic suggestion from CNBC financial commentator Rick Santelli: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/06/your-brain-capitalism-cnbc-market-analyst-rick-santelli-calls-infecting-global
‘I'm not saying this is the generic-type flu—but
maybe we'd be just better off if we gave it to everybody. And then in a month,
it would be over, because the mortality rate of this probably isn't going to be
any different if we did it that way than the long-term picture, but the
difference is we're wreaking havoc on global and domestic economies.’
As wise owl Richard North observes
http://www.eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=87542
, ‘adoption of the "take it on the chin" option would lead directly
to hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths.’
North also points out that the UK
has long neglected to prepare for an epidemic, and links to this study https://ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-019-2616-1
that was published just before WuFlu hit and said presciently, ‘A serious
influenza pandemic is very likely to overwhelm the health care system.’
We failed to Contain – perhaps
that was not possible, in a free-living democratic society – but it is
absolutely vital to Delay the progress of the disease, to give our NHS a chance
to cope.
Further, when all this (or the
worst of it) is over, we need to reassess Britain’s general preparedness for
emergencies of all kinds. Waving COBRA at us like a magic wand when crisis is
upon us, will not do.
It is time for our political class
to professionalise.
1 comment:
We have a modern world dependent on science and technology.
We elect politicians on the basis of looks and personality, most of whom understand none of it.
In Britain, the US and Australia, right-wing politicians in power have even forbidden discussion of known science because it is against their own policies.
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