Lockdown is not the way forward
THE Telegraph’s: “Lockdown Fears” headline on its Friday, October 9 edition was a depressing thought to start the weekend with. I would like to argue there is no need to increase the severity of the lockdown, and on the contrary, there is a case for having no lockdown at all.
Covid cases may be increasing locally, but there is no panic in the health system and the health system is nowhere close to the state of collapse that threatened it earlier in the year.
To put the present situation into perspective: in the seven days up to April 4 there were 45 Covid deaths reported in Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. In the seven days up to October 7 there was only one Covid death recorded. In England and Wales up to September 25 there were 52,271 Covid deaths, but there were 59,237 deaths where influenza and pneumonia were mentioned.
This shows that influenza and pneumonia have been more deadly than Covid. Remarkably, the latest data shows that combined, the number of influenza, pneumonia and Covid deaths are less than the five-year average for influenza and pneumonia alone. We did not lock down the country due to the influenza/pneumonia deaths in previous years, so why now?
It could be that due to the similarities between the infections there have been instances of misclassification of influenza/ pneumonia deaths as Covid deaths. This might explain the paradox of the recorded fall in influenza/pneumonia deaths in the week up to September 25 when normally a rise in such deaths is recorded.
Regardless, something is patently amiss with how national mortality statistics are being presented.
Meanwhile, the country is not recording any excess deaths and the Royal College of General Practitioners’ weekly survey shows a continuing decline in investigations caused by respiratory complaints. In autumn it usually rises, another strand of the confusing Covid puzzle.
The Covid-19 virus is a new threat to the health of the country, particularly the elderly who may already be suffering from existing complaints. However, the virus is not overwhelming the country’s health services and the virus is not even the worst problem the health service is facing. Measures to control the virus may actually be now causing more harm than the virus itself.
Why then, is the country under lockdown?
Martin Judge,
Elm Tree Avenue, Coventry