A key detail of AIDS denial was a poisonous combination of genuine fitness policy considerations and clinical denial. Genuine considerations have driven clinical denial, rather than a rational policy that can address those considerations.
Has anything changed?
A big thing that has changed since Thabo Mbeki left office on 24 September 2008 is the rise of social media. While Facebook existed back then, it only had around 100 million users worldwide and the internet was not widely accessible in South Africa, with less than 10% of the population having access. Twitter, the real powerhouse of disinformation, did not exist until 2006. Today, over 70% of the population of South Africa has access to the internet and low-data media such asTwitter have a wide reach.
The poisonous combination of genuine disorders and clinical denial still exists and threatens to be even more harmful. What is at stake is only the optimal control of one pandemic, but also the long-term control of other pandemics, attacks on vaccines, one of the most effective equipment to prevent serious illness and death, and a fitness policy based on science in general.
So let’s put the problems aside.
Covid denial is gaining momentum, as if deaths and serious illness have occurred. I recently read a touching post on Facebook, which I quote (without naming the author):
“In the spring of 2020, in New York City, I saw countless people die from Covid-19. Many of those other people were healthy in the past and many ended up dying anonymously because the volume of incoming patients was too high for us. In fact, the death rate was so high that we had to line up the deceased in the hallways or put them in the corners because we couldn’t get them to the makeshift morgues fast enough. These other people died alone.
“Many patients used their last breaths to beg to share their final words with their loved ones. It was heart-breaking to witness this constantly. Our resources were stretched far beyond their limits and we could not honour what was expected from us. We were put into situations I never thought I would have to deal with as a medical professional, particularly in the USA.
“I had to tell myself, ‘It’s just a movie. It’s not genuine life,’ so many times to face and complete my tasks. The memories of worry in people’s eyes before they died and the haunting cries of families upon learning that they had enjoyed Those Who Have Died are etched in my memory.
“Death and despair weren’t sporadic throughout this time period, and instead, they were constant. I poured my heart and soul into doing everything I could to deliver the best care that I possibly could give, and it broke my soul knowing that doing everything I could was still not enough. My heart aches for all those lost and how much pain and suffering the pandemic caused.
I saw so many bodies. The screams were unsettling. I felt helpless watching other people die in front of me, even though I did everything I could to try and save them and I can’t replace the end result.
“I was pretty stunned afterwards. He had spent months immersed in a hospital filled with death and despair, and had forgotten what life was like outside the hospital. I didn’t have time to watch the news and just went home to sleep. When I resurfaced in the mainstream, I mistakenly assumed that other people would understand what our physical care formula had gone through. To my dismay, the audience had another agenda. Many other people told me that Covid-19 was a hoax, they said we were talking about other people dying of Covid-19 to get more money because they were dying from comorbidities, or that it was “just a cold”. Instead of sympathy, our hospital has received death threats. . . »
Covid isn’t just a cold. It’s not the flu. It’s a harmful disease that kills and weakens and is incredibly contagious. Fortunately, thanks to a combination of vaccines, exposure to networks, increased remedies, and less virulent strains, the situation is no longer as bad as it was at the beginning.
But let’s look at one of the first stories of denial.
On May 28, 2020, an article titled “Block or Not Block: The Perspective of Number Calculators” gave the impression on the BizNews site that it is not a bastion of journalistic integrity. One of the most frequently quoted statements through an organization of actuaries calling themselves PANDA is: “. . . why would someone with the right side of their brain tell a story that talks about more than 10,000 deaths in South Africa, with or without lockdowns?”
A key paragraph of the article reads as follows:
“Underscoring the panic, [Peter] Castleden cited an announcement by Imperial College’s Covid-19 response team that their SEIR model (susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered) predicted the UK would suffer 500 000 deaths if stringent control measures were not undertaken. ‘Our conservative maximum had seen the UK at a level not higher than 70 000 and that’s when we realised that many people had missed the boat,’ he says.”
Why do we take seriously other people who at first knew nothing about epidemiology and now know less?
Let’s take a look at the actual numbers. The official Covid death toll in the UK is over 230,000. That’s less than the figure Castleden presented, but that estimate was based on inaction. If the UK had followed his recommendation and done nothing, there is no doubt that the death toll would have been significantly higher. above, not the 70,000 estimated by his group.
The official death toll in South Africa exceeds 100,000 (10 times the figure reported through the organization PANDA), but it is well below excess mortality, a more accurate indicator in South Africa because access to testing is limited, especially for the rural poor. that the actual Covid figure is expected to be about 3 times higher than lab-confirmed deaths.
What should be done?
Social media is the battleground of a new form of warfare: information warfare.
What is desperately needed are studies on how to counter misinformation and blatant lies.
But we also want to start addressing a genuine concern about fitness: the monetization of fitness beyond what is needed to cure, care for, and save disease. Suspicions about Big Pharma aren’t unfounded, but that doesn’t explain why dismissing all science.
Curing cancer, finding vaccines against the most challenging pathogens, such as malaria and HIV, etc. , are the main challenges. Resolving these disorders may not be of much use if the answers are unattainable to those who want them to the fullest, and they won’t be either. These answers will be very useful if you don’t also face the challenge of data warfare.
He is an associate professor emeritus at Rhodes University in South Africa and is a long-time civic activist.
Policymakers recognize the inherent impossibility of eliminating a resilient and locally rooted resistance movement.
We want to normalize talking about suffering the weight of a story
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