…. but I’m beginning to feel profoundly sceptical about the current “crisis” over the Covid-19 virus. I was reflecting on the evident over-reaction of our government while gardening this morning, and after lunch had the opportunity to check some statistics on the internet. The death rates from this disease are trivial in comparison with a wide range of other possible causes of death. One figure that struck me in particular was the disparity between reported figures for death from the virus and the suicide rate in the country. To date only 35 people have died from Covid-19, and there have been only around 1,300 confirmed cases of the disease, whereas in 2018 alone there were 6,507 suicides in the UK (4,903 of which were men). The deaths from the former have invariably taken place among elderly people with pre-existent underlying health problems, whereas suicide rates are high among otherwise healthy people of working age (or younger). Somehow the problem of the mental health of the nation seems to rate little if any attention.
The more I reflect on this situation the more I begin to suspect that government and the media have got themselves into a vicious circle of mutually re-enforcing panic. The press latch onto the novelty of the initial outbreak, and with typical sensationalism make headline news of this strange disease. The government feels obliged to demonstrate that it is responding to this “threat” responsibly. The fact that the government is doing something is then taken by the media as prima facie evidence that the problem is serious, and devote more sensational attention to it. The government, deluded by its own rhetoric (deployed in the election) that it “gets things done”, starts to intervene under the delusion that it can in some respect control the situation. So we go round and round in circles, with more hysterical reports in the press eliciting more drastic intervention by the state, which in turn is construed as further evidence of the danger of the situation.
As I understand it, this disease is a variety of influenza. It is dangerous to the frail and elderly, especially those whose health is already compromised. It is unpleasant if you catch it, but for most people not especially serious. What is more, although it is highly contagious it can be held at bay by relatively simple and common-sense precautions. These fall short of closing down the entire country, and for the most part consist of the routine exercise of hygiene and consideration for others.
I’m sorry to spoil the fun, but shouldn’t we get real about this situation?