O/T:- Are we over-reacting to COVD19?

[sidders]

I would say that that the 'sensible precautions' are to follow the advice given by the Chief Medical Officer and DHSC Chief Scientific Adviser who is certainly more qualified than me and I suspect more qualified than you to give guidance. He has been advocating phased approach, but with extra precautions for those groups who are most vulnerable.

You seem to have dodged the point that by putting generally fit, well and younger folk into an excessive level of isolation, you only delay the spike and potentially cause an even bigger one down the line, because a degree of exposure to threats is required to keep our immune systems active and in a state of readiness for something like this.



My statistics weren't misleading. I compared the number of deaths against the total population whereas you compared the number of deaths amongst those known to have contracted COVID-19, which is an unverified figure anyway. It's simply a case of which context you wish to use. Talking of context...

On average in Italy every year there are around 4,000 suicides amongst a population of circa 60 million. The current Coronavirus death toll in Italy is around 1,440 which in terms of the number of infections is high and the toll could reach similar proportions to the suicide rate this year if not more, but COVID-19 will be very time limited in its impact, whereas the suicide rate has been fairly constant for at least two decades. Plus, where Coronavirus is known to be most dangerous to people who are old or have underlying health conditions, mental health issues have a wider effect across all ages.

The media are obsessed with COVID-19 because it is a new phenomenon that gives them 'breaking' stories and new figures every day and it is not 'routine'. Meanwhile, mental health issues which will cause the death of many more people, consistently year after year, barely get mentioned unless someone famous happens to end their lives, or an anonymous person's suicide is especially dramatic.

The media are not motivated by the 'public interest'. They are motivated by selling their products, and to do so they seek the kind of originality and drama that COVID-19 will provide globally for a period of time. Meanwhile 800,000 people across the world kill themselves each year and most go completely unnoticed, even though this is a much bigger, longer running, permanent 'story'. It just doesn't shift newspapers or attract viewers the same way.

You make the common misconception of identifying an entity called 'the media' and proceed to endow all agents, (newspapers, magazines, TV, radio) with the same characteristics. The meeja is many-armed many-eyed and has a multiplicity of owners.
You also contradict your own logic. Why shouldn't 'suicide' sell stories - full of drama and back story, the only asterisk is the danger of treading into a minefield of personal data. If you really think COVID-19 sells papers, you are very mistaken. Most people get their fill of info on COVID-29 off the broadcasting media. Now that sport is becalmed in the doldrums, watch the fall off in readers of the red tops.

[upthemaggies]

When this is all over and the dust has settled, the first sign of a new strain of flu will presumably see every country back in lock-down once again, just in case.