Why are we stopping the spread, again?

Vincent J. Curtis

5 Oct 20

This pandemic panic is demonstrating the myopia of experts.  Even at this stage of the game, we have experts calling for a renewal of lockdown measures.  Nobody is asking them, why?

The reason for the lockdown in March was to “flatten the curve.”  If you look at the charts on Ontario’s COVID-19 data page, you’ll see the characteristic curves of a pandemic: a sharp rise in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths followed by a nearly as rapid drop off with a long, flat tail just above the zero line.  In short, nothing was flattened, and the measures did little or nothing to affect the course of the pandemic.

No matter, by mid-July all indicators showed that wave of the virus had passed.  Then came the wave of masking by-laws, which I maintain gave people a false sense of security.  A second wave of cases began in mid-August, and the charts show the second wave is bigger than the first.  That is, in terms of “cases.”  Oddly, the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths remain stubbornly low; they aren’t rising in concert with “cases.”

The reason for this in part is that the people becoming “cases” are those in the 20-49 demographics, who handle the virus easily.  So why are the usual “experts” calling for a renewed lockdown?  They can’t say to “flatten the curve,” the curve being already flat and nearly zero.  Saying to slow the spread raises more questions, the first being why?  Why not get this over with quickly rather than slowly?

The other question is, what makes them think a second lockdown will work any better than the first?  They can’t point to a single feature of the curves that show the lockdown achieved anything.

The medical experts are out of excuses.  Their myopia is obvious.  It’s now time for Ontario to lift itself out of the doldrums and get moving again.

-30-