Last week, someone complained about the many cheers following the announcement of Denmark to scrap all COVID-19 restrictions. I understand that complaint but don’t sympathise with its micro view. Two years ago, people verbally attacked the ones who dared to argue that the macro view is not unlike a 2-year severe flu.
To be clear, the micro and macro view are both valid. It took me a few months to understand Why. The WHO press conference of 8 June 2020 was my eyeopener: there are asymptomatic and symptomatic carriers.
The anomaly is the low number of symptomatic virus carriers (my blogs: 2021 Dutch, 2021 English, 2021 anomaly). Only about 5% of the population (worldwide) faces a fatality rate of about 5%. This explains why some people compare COVID-19 with the flu as 5% x 5% = 0,25 or 2 severe flu years (ie, 2020 + 2021).
The (many) people with a micro view must now feel abandoned by governments like Denmark or Spain. I understand but don’t sympathise. Fear paralysed their reasoning and thinking. It will be interesting to see how these people will exit their State of Fear, a superb book by Michael Crichton on a similar fear.
The imminent transition from pandemic to endemic begs a question: did we learn anything?
Example: The Dutch government has spent about 76 billion euro on corona (NOS). Nevertheless, they want to save 5 billion euro on the future increase of medical expenses despite an increasing ageing of the population. Hence, my country will continue with its inadequate medical capacity (eg, my 2021 blog).
It’s tempting to argue that governments have a macro view: it’s cheaper to bear the cost a pandemic (which may happen every 100 years), rather than increasing the annual medical expenses and raise taxes. I suppose no politician wins an election by promising to raise (new) taxes (eg, George H.W. Bush in 1988).
Two years ago, my then-girlfriend expressed her self-interest by arguing that a pandemic has some silver linings as well: more houses, less pensions. Perhaps, our governments are equally opportunistic.
I suppose the game never ends.
The Turn of a Friendly Card – Part One (1980) by The Alan Parsons Project
artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
[Chorus]
But the game never ends when your whole world depends
On the turn of a friendly card
No the game never ends when your whole world depends
On the turn of a friendly card
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise.
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