Heck!.....
what a year this
turned out to be!
Oliver Hardy’s famous line: “Well, here’s another nice
mess you’ve gotten me into” in many ways sums up
the tragi-comedy that has been playing out with the
pandemic all over the World.
Of course, it might also have been what Boris Johnson
told his favourite strategist just before Rose Garden Gate!
It needs to be emphasised, before the spin-doctors, et
al who can dance between raindrops on their way out
of trouble and on to beauty spots in the UK, establish as
a fact and by dint of repetition that it is not the corona
virus, which has caused what could prove to be the most
significant depression in economic history.
The world’s response has been at the root of these
problems.
Based on what is now becoming increasingly seen, as
sketchy decision making based on the limited available
scientific data and the dangers and limitations of
modelling, on which most countries’ governments
have based their COVID-19 reactions plans, the world’s
economy shuddered to a halt.
That said, governments have needed to be decisive and
consistent in their decision-making processes and many
have not.
I reiterate this, because in a feature written some months
ago, I listed the known killers, viral and otherwise, which
have preyed on human kind in the past and those that
continue to do so.
At that stage, the death rate from COVID-19 stood at
around the 200 000 mark, and is now just over 460 000,
which although a tragic number in itself, only enabled this
pandemic to progress up the top 10 list to number 6.
Durban skyline at night
I am pleased to report that this ‘Chinese Flu’, still lags far
behind (and we all fervently hope this remains the status)
the top five annual killers (smoking tobacco including
deaths from passive smoking remains at number 1 with
Volume 5 • Issue 52
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