Health Experts join anti-lockdown movement

BBC news reports that several thousand health experts and scientists around the world have joined the anti-lockdown movement. Nearly 6,000 experts, including dozens from the UK, say the approach is having a devastating impact on physical and mental health as well as society. They argue that the harmful effects of the measures have not been studied or taken into account, and that low-risk individuals need to be allowed to function normally while providing extra care for the most vulnerable. This means that they recommend schools should stay open and have in-person teaching. While this approach is still controversial due to the long-COVID cases, it seems to be favored by majority of the population.

In Romania (and in the rest of the world) the number of cases are growing as are the number of deaths. There were over 70 deaths today. Generally, about 800 people die daily in Romania from all causes. Given that the COVID numbers are only 10%, the numbers are relatively low. In hospitals, the COVID sections here are reported to hold 30 to 50 beds and often have just one sink and one bathroom. The medication given to treat COVID-19 causes several days of severe diarrhea and vomiting. I imagine doing that in the one shared sink and bathroom, which is cleaned sporadically, and shudder. If a person is old and/or has pre-existent conditions, and the weather is hot -- this summer had months of temperatures over 30 degrees, their probability of survival must go down. They mix people who have symptoms with people who are asymptomatic and let them care for each other in this blissful one-sink, one-bath environment with doctors and nurses visting rarely while dressed in these strage suits and staying as little as possible because they are afraid for their own lives. Each person stays there for two weeks. For non-COVID patients, all health care is delayed, unless it's an emergency, until the COVID test comes back, and then the care provided is more questionable than ever before. People are surprised by the high number of daily deaths and that the number is going up. I am only surprised the number of deaths is so low. It brings us to question if COVID is really that deadly and how much more deadly do we make it than it has to be. It would be better if the healthcare system was functional and prepared and if there were no random measures in place that debilitate.

Restricting movement and social interaction in ways that cause severe depression and deepen existent health problems in people of all ages while taking measures that successfuly decimate the heath care systems accross the world and temporarily destroy the educational system and then assigning random grades to students cannot be good. I am glad some scientists and some health experts agree that the approach is wrong. Will the approach change? It remains to be seen.