08/10/2020
There are still people out there who dismiss COVID-19 as irrelevant, inconsequential or even fictional. Some claim, erroneously, that the common flu kills more people annually.
Claiming that a few months ago would reasonably be considered stupid: to still be clinging onto such idiocies after more than a million deaths in about six months, suggests a more deliberate form of ignorance.
I created the table below from information I could glean from official American data sources a few days ago (05/10/2020), when I started writing this post. Whilst the flu, in its short 'infection period', would affect significant numbers of American citizens, the loss of life (whilst to high) is dwarfed by the numbers lost already to COVID-19.
Here in the UK, the COVID-19 numbers actually look worse than those recorded by America.
The data shown in the table above was also compiled from information I could find, here in the UK, on 5th October.
It can seem that some of the data available is inconsistent and it should be noted that, in the UK, the official death figures only include those who died within 28 days of being tested positive for the virus. It is believed that the actual number of deaths from COVID-19 in the UK is higher than the official figures.
The latest official numbers show that there were 17,540 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. That is another steep rise on the 14,162 (which was already too many) new cases recorded in the previous 24 hours. The increase in new cases in the UK over that one 24 hour period was almost 24%; if we focus on England, that rise was 29.7%.
There should be no doubt that COVID-19 is not just more dangerous than influenza; it is a virus that is not being controlled adequately by our inept government in the UK. Each of the devolved parliaments are managing the crisis better than Westminster, according to the statistics on infection rates.
I want to add some clarity to this post, with the aim of addressing the lunacy presented by some of the conspiracy theorists; and the sheep that lap up their nonsense.
Many of those who try to dismiss the pandemic as a hoax, orchestrated by some for of elite group, or Cabal, will seek to suggest that those of us who are acknowledging the existence of COVID-19 and the impact it is having on our societies are scared sheep who lack the ability to 'see' the truth.
I am not scared of COVID-19. Most people are not scared of this virus.
Instead, we are aware of the risks the coronavirus poses to us and those around us and we seek to mitigate those risks.
There are many things we could compare this approach to.
I'm not scared of driving my car. I know that driving a car brings with it some degree of risk. I know that we can mitigate the risk of death or serious injury by taking certain measures, such as:
driving within the speed limits;
adjusting our speed and style of driving based upon the road conditions, weather an volume of traffic;
avoiding the use of alcohol or certain non-prescription drugs when driving, or when due to drive; and
avoiding serious distractions, especially the use of mobile phones or internet enabled devices.
Adopting an approach where we understand the risks and try and mitigate them doesn't make us scared. It simply means we are acting sensibly and, importantly, are sharing due care and respect to those around us.
Throughout our lives, frequently (or even usually) without really thinking about it, we all conduct risk assessments. We do this multiple times each day; in fact we generally do this (to varying degrees) almost all of the time. This is how we make decisions about almost every step we take, every turn we make and every discussion we have with others.
Being aware of risk doesn't make us scared. I simply makes us aware.
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