Sunetra Gupta and co-authors have put up a web site compiling authoritative records of collateral damage known and expected from covid interventions. The forecast damage and very probably the existing damage far outweighs any damage the virus may have wrought.
And that’s talking only sickness and death. We care most about sickness and death and when challenged about our ‘over the top’ approach to ‘protecting ourselves’ we are quick to appreciate we don’t want sickness or death and are blindly willing to overlook almost any cost in order to do it. Money doesn’t matter, we say. We think. We like to think.
And we think the intervention ‘costs’ are ‘mere’ monetary costs – abstract ‘economic’ costs, perhaps a little heartbreak here and there with a failed business. Ah, too bad, we say, but better that than anyone gets sick or dies.
But the fact is the collateral damage measured in sick and dead far exceeds, far exceeds any covid cost. And that’s looking at current much disputed and certainly much exaggerated figures. No matter. No matter how exaggerated the covid figures they still don’t match the figures for collateral damage written up in various places and many compiled on the Sunetra Gupta site:
Not much of a title is it? You’d never think to look there. ‘collateralglobal.org’. Not a mention of Covid. Or SARS. Or even ‘damage’. Not exactly catchy. Or memorable.
But they are not thrill seeking sensationalists. Lurid journalists; click bait specialists.
They are serious sober scientists careful to print only that which they can believe is true and reliable and with a concern for their own reputations now and into the future.
Unlike bandwagonriders and followers of fashion and bee in the bonnet maniacs they are not printing facts about a situation they want to be true. They are printing facts they find to be regrettably true about the situation. Regrettable, awful, but true. And properly the concern of every person on the planet.
Here are some of the posts, only a small selection and mainly from the ‘health’ section of the site. There’s much more. :
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/news/2020-07-09/open-letter-secretary-state
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33033486/
BBC 50,000 extra heart deaths.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54935043
NYTimes Spain Undetected Cancer
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/world/europe/spain-coronavirus-cancer.html
Belfast Domestic Abuse
https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/health/actresses-bronagh-waugh-bronagh-gallagher-19351364
NY Times. Teenagers mental health.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/health/covid-teenagers-mental-health.html?surface=home-discovery-vi-prg&fellback=false&req_id=311187540&algo=identity&imp_id=460398571&action=click&module=Science%20%20Technology&pgtype=Homepage
BBC Babies Harmed and Killed
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-54827702
NPR Polio Campaign crippled.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/10/30/929080692/the-campaign-to-wipe-out-polio-was-going-really-well-until-it-wasnt?t=1605118735239
Independent. Lost generation.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/coronavirus-generation-lost-young-people-support-report-b867557.html
Unicef: Stillbirths
https://data.unicef.org/resources/a-neglected-tragedy-stillbirth-estimates-report/
WSJ Death extend beyond covid victimes.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/death-toll-from-covid-19-pandemic-extends-far-beyond-virus-victims-11600507800?fbclid=IwAR2U8pJwE6Pwve1-pLcWnRQ_J7kBqbOKNDz3SBnhVGg4EoBMnM7Ya2bMj1k
News MN. Domestic violence
https://news.mn/en/793352/?fbclid=IwAR2dWCotF9t53ULg1SGz3RsnCWJa4fUA5zmyEElD3z_g42nD3ig5cNj_dZU
Forbes: Pandemic Anxiety
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2020/08/18/the-pandemic-has-caused-an-increase-in-anxiety-stress-depression-and-suicides/?sh=b11cd485863e
NY Times. Farmer Suicides.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/world/asia/india-coronavirus-farmer-suicides-lockdown.html
10,000 child deaths per month.
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-ap-top-news-understanding-the-outbreak-hunger-international-news-5cbee9693c52728a3808f4e7b4965cbd
Economist. Long term effects on children
https://www.economist.com/international/2020/07/19/lockdowns-could-have-long-term-effects-on-childrens-health
Belfast Live. Domestic violence tip of iceberg.
https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/domestic-violence-reports-psni-reach-18845826
Oxfam 122 million brink of starvation
https://globalnews.ca/news/7155931/coronavirus-starvation-oxfam/
Oxfam 12,000 per day could die from hunger.
https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/12000-people-day-could-die-covid-19-linked-hunger-end-year-potentially-more-disease
The Conversation South Africa mass hunger.
https://theconversation.com/south-africa-faces-mass-hunger-if-efforts-to-offset-impact-of-covid-19-are-eased-143143
Guardian. Cancer patients miss out
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/11/cancer-patients-missed-out-on-tests-during-uk-coronavirus-lockdown
UNAIDS Hundreds of thousands extra HIV deaths.
https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2020/may/20200511_PR_HIV_modelling
telegraph. Unicef warns 1.2million child deaths.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/unicef-warns-lockdown-could-kill-covid-19-model-predicts-12/
Irish Times. Rape and Child Abuse