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Covid camps. Again a question of what’s the right approach. @HSELive @DonnellyStephen @SusanMitchell_ @DrJohnCurran @MihaiVioreanu @RiochtConor2 @higginsdavidw
1/ I’ll admit I’m tired. Utterly fatigued. Lockdowns are one thing, an inability to see friends and family another. But mostly it’s the inability for any sort of middle ground with the Covid narrative.
2/ I am no statistical or public health expert. 99% of us aren’t. And so I want to believe in the advice. But we have camps. We have what seems to be compelling and opposing arguments for how we tackle Covid19. But any approach suggested must have a buy in from the public.
3/ Otherwise it’s like a coach losing the locker room. He/she may be a great coach or manager, but without the locker room believing them, success won’t come.
4/ A patient must trust their doctor, they must trust that the advice being given to them is evidence based, in their best interests, and the benefits-risks have been weighed up carefully.
5/ As ever, I have seen the graphs, the case numbers, the fear, the escalating situation in many European countries. And it’s easy therefore to accept that our approach has been correct, that we have been ahead of the game, we’ve done better than most. And maybe that’s right.
6/ But genuinely I’m in two minds. There is on the other hand equally good data from others to raise many questions, questions about the data and our approach that haven’t been answered
7/ case numbers were already falling in level 3, before level 5. Community acquired infections vs hospital acquired, ICU cases, ICU capacity (and for the record - ICUs in Ireland are essentially full all the time, independent of Covid)
8/ The false positives for the PCR test, the amplification cycles for the test potentially picking up miniscule viral remnants which are non infectious. Personally I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.
9/ I think parts of lockdown are to simply protect the public hospital system as it’s always completely overwhelmed anyway this time of year (trolley crises, swamped ED departments, winter plans, cancelled elective surgeries and procedures, budget overruns, etc).
10/ Maybe it’s to kick the can down the road with regard to trying to fix the gaping problems in the public healthcare system.
11/ Maybe it’s the fear in government of any Covid mortality from a political point of view, but yet ignoring the ever building numbers all of physical and mental health issues.
12/ Maybe it’s a misguided belief that it’ll be easier to deal with the economic devastation from a pr perspective than with Covid.
13/ I think the approach has of course been to try and save lives, but there must be a willingness to listen to others, to defend ones viewpoint with facts and science, and to debate whatever other data is presented.
14/ For me, there are an ever increasing number of valid questions that I’d love to see rationally discussed. I’m not an expert and hence I don’t feel qualified to debate the subject.
15/ I can form my own opinion on what I’ve read, but genuinely I’d like to see those with the expertise provide guidance having openly discussed and debated the counter viewpoints.
16/ Because at this point I fear the coach is losing the locker room.
