Originally Posted by
BCram
Great story Rross. I have been puzzled about this Sage committee. Is there a current list of the members who are members and more importantly what their specialist subjects are. At the start I thought that there were behavioural scientists.Now I am coming to the view that these are the real villains in this covid drama. We have had comment made on Pravda about the completely different attitude shown by Swiss, Dutch Swedish populations. These Governments say jump and their populations say how high, ours says jump and we immediately have a media blizzard asking why?
Could it be that there has been a significant input from these behavioural scientists to get the actual message presented in a way that makes the desired outcome happen even though this is different from what we are being told officially.
Example, face masks. Early on in the epidemic they were absolutely essential for NHS staff but there were great shortages and if the general public wanted to buy them this would obviously cause supply problems. Solution, rubbish the effectiveness of wearing masks. I chose this deliberately because it is still a matter of contention. Now, mask wearing is mandatory in certain situations and that mandatory, with specific exemptions, is being attacked on the basis that it is an attack our civil liberty. Big brother is more dangerous than covid prevention.
I think our governments are trying to manipulate our behaviour. They don't tell us the truth and as a result we don't behave as we should, or in the same way that other nations would react.
I think the infection rates, the death rates, the survival rates and the different scales that are used to report them are so different and fluid that they have confused the true situation. I accept that there is a greater risk for older people and people with underlying health issues than those who are young and fit, I accept that social distancing is sensible. I support local pubs and restaurants who are following the advice on how to operate safely. It looks as though youngsters who go out and ignore the social distancing regulations can catch the virus but there seems to be a doubt, eloquently raised by Rross, that the illness does not cause anything like the problems seen in older victims.