Since antiquity man has sought to conquer Nature rather than peaceful coexistence. Covid-19 is simply a reminder by Nature that it cannot be overcome. How humanity has responded to covid-19 has hastened its demise later this century.
Background:
V2, the virus responsible for the “cold” called covid-19, began its global domination by August 2019: at least 6 months before humanity knew of its existence. This was due to easy global travel, which is a part of man’s ruthlessly industrious campaign to self-extinct as quickly as possible – an obvious outcome which world leaders studiously ignore despite burgeoning evidence.
V2 is the descendant of V1, which was responsible for the brief SARS epidemic in 2002-2003. Both viruses emerged in China from the trade of wild animals.
China has sworn to put a halt to its wildlife trade. In just a few months since that oath the backsliding has already begun.
Bushmeat is common fare throughout much of the world. Covid-19 is simply the latest pandemic to come from it.
V2 emergence was gloriously saltational: an evolutionary leap in both infectiousness and righteousness. Most people infected with V2 never know it or are barely affected.
Contrastingly, those infirm by age or who have degraded their own health through poor lifestyle choices face extended suffering and death. V2 has been a cull of the weak (a cold hard truth, yes, but undeniable). Lacking foresight, this lessening of long-term societal health-care expenditure has been met with alarm.
The last resort for those dying of covid-19 is to be put on a ventilator. That rarely works worth a damn. ~88% of those on ventilators die. The few who do survive suffer long-term health complications. Most never fully recover.
Thanks to its facility for asymptomatic transmission, that V2’s spread was uncontrollable was quickly obvious: an unequivocal conclusion disregarded in a panicked response, as clueless political leaders decimated their functioning economies with futile restrictions in trade and socialization.
The most startling aspect of the pandemic has been the cacophony of nonsense from authorities about covid-19 at the expense of a coherent, useful message. The World Health Organization is led by a spectacularly incompetent Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who had decried covid-19 as “extremely dangerous” despite V2 having half less than half the mortality rate of the common seasonal flu. All world leaders have either pretended that covid-19 is controllable or, contrarily, for purely political reasons, minimized its significance (e.g., US president Donald Trump, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro).
The covid-19 pandemic has barely begun. But after just a few months of nugatory lockdowns, countries are trying to resume an ersatz normalcy.
Analysis:
The unassailable foundation for any sensible analysis about the covid-19 pandemic is that V2’s spread has proven uncontrollable, as has been amply demonstrated in the myriad of ways that men have tried to contain the virus. Lockdowns and restrictions have only debilitated economies without altering the inexorable course of covid-19.
The other solid fact, statistically at least, is that covid-19 is a serious health hazard only to those in off-color health. Otherwise, covid-19 is a bad cold at worst. For the vast majority, covid-19 is no cause for concern whatsoever.
Hospitals have been overwhelmed with covid-19. The common failure in public communication is to let people go to the hospital to further spread the disease. The only reasonable treatment for dire covid-19 sufferers is oxygen, and that can be administered anywhere.
To put it mildly, official public education about covid-19 has been lacking. Instead, covid-19 has been politicized in polar fashion: with fearmongering and, conversely, casual indifference.
Public Policy Recommendations:
Sensible public education, such as this daily world report.
Have people who are sick stay at home; provide in-home care as necessary. To avoid unnecessary contagion, treat severely ill covid-19 patients exclusively outside hospitals, in facilities (such as hotels) that afford isolation and care.
Masks and other “protective” equipment are mostly a generation of trash. Don’t mandate their use.
Social distancing is unnatural and has been more a source of social friction than disease prevention (people being prickly creatures). Don’t bother.
Besides not being a dangerous disease for most, covid-19 is not controllable – certainly not worth ruining innocent people’s lives over by capriciously taking away their livelihoods. Stop the lockdowns and other futile restrictions.
Let people who don’t respond to oxygen treatment die. Surviving to suffer malignantly is no saving grace. Accept fate. (Since prehistory until modern times, fate was the common paradigm of life’s extremities. The ridiculous idea that everything can be “managed” is a modern invention.)
Though the covid-19 pandemic is not one of them, there are many societal problems that can be successfully addressed by governments: such as unemployment, poverty, pollution, and respectful equity (aka social justice). Do so.
Reference:
Ishi Nobu, “Coronavirus pandemic,” (2020).