What’s up, Doctor?

LIKE most of you, I’m still trying to gauge the seriousness of this pandemic. Frankly, despite having read every expert opinion, every Q&A, I’m none the wiser.

Expect the worst, hope for the best seems to be the official plan. We’ve never been here before. Or, at least, not that we’re aware.

So I was struck by a letter in the Daily Telegraph, from a retired doctor, Dr George Birdwood, of Shipton Moyne, Gloucestershire, who qualified in 1953. It deserves a wider audience:

‘I have been reflecting on how we would have reacted to a coronavirus epidemic in those days. The answer is not at all, for three main reasons.

‘The Covid-19 virus could not have been identified rapidly enough, if at all. Most cases would have been too mild to attract attention in this season of coughs and sneezes.

‘And the small proportion of deaths among elderly people with chronic respiratory disease would have remained much as usual for the time of year.

‘It follows that there would have been no alarm or countermeasures. International trade and travel would have carried on as usual. World stock markets would not have collapsed. And governments would not have needed to get involved.

‘As it is today, we know too much about the coronavirus for our own good, but almost nothing about treating its victims or preventing its spread.’

Sometimes a little knowledge really can be a dangerous thing.

I’m not advocating complacency, but I do worry what we’re seeing right now is wellintentioned over-reaction.