Saturday 21 March 2020

Victims of Covid-19?

In the final analysis, the governments of countries have had little choice other than to throw (in different ways and with varying degrees of effectiveness) the entire resources of their health services and other agencies into a direct fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. People have naturally focused on the daily death rate from the viral infection, its very unpleasant terminal symptoms  and the general characteristics of the victims (often described as 'elderly, with underlying health conditions'). But, there are obviously other 'victims'. For many people with treatable health conditions including cardio-vascular diseases, cancers and diabetes, screening and, in some cases, treatments have largely been curtailed. This is not to mention, the profound impacts on looking after (medically and with support) people with mental conditions (in some cases, presumably exacerbated by fear of the infection). What about suicides in people whose viable economic models (in commerce, hospitality and sport) appear to have been destroyed by the pandemic? It is also the case, we might argue, that people will die, in the future, because governments have had to take their eyes off climate change and countering its causes. You can also put into the equation, failures in social care (of children, rough sleepers et cetera) and policing that might well increase the body count. You don't, however, need to become a fatality to be a victim. The fear associated with the pandemic has changed all our lives, preventing normal social contacts (e.g. visits to the elderly in care homes) and interfering with the education, along with the  hopes and aspirations of the younger generation. In a real sense, we are all victims of Covid-19.

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