A data analyst consortium in South Africa asserts that the economic consequences of the country’s lockdown will lead to 29 times more people dying than the coronavirus itself.
“The model, which will be made public today for debate, was developed by a consortium calling itself Panda (Pandemic ~ Data Analysis), which includes four actuaries, an economist and a doctor, while the work was checked by lawyers and mathematicians,” reports the Financial Mail. “The process was led by two fellows at the Actuarial Society of SA, Peter Castleden and Nick Hudson.”
According to the research, the 29 times figure is a “conservative estimate” of how many lives will be lost due to the impact of poverty caused by economic hardship over the long term.
The Mail describes how the consortium reached their conclusion.
“In SA, they estimate that 5.4 years of life have been lost per Covid-19 death. They then multiply this by the range of deaths which they predict – 20,000 – as well as the actuarial society’s prediction of 88,000 fatalities. They factor in that the lockdown will have reduced some deaths, but not all. In the end, their model translated into a minimum of 26,800 “years of lives lost” due to Covid-19, and a maximum of 473,500 years. (This, critically, shouldn’t be confused with the actual number of fatalities expected from Covid-19.)”
“The actuaries then used the figures predicted by the National Treasury to model the impact on poverty. On Friday, the Treasury estimated that between 3-million and 7-million jobs will be lost due to the measures taken to combat the virus. The actuaries then work out that, conservatively, 10% of South Africans will become poorer, and as a result, will lose a few months of their lives.”
The model shows that the number of years lost due to the economic collapse caused by the lockdown will be between 14 million and 24 million, which means the 29 times figure is on the low end and could be even higher.
The model also showed that based on European data, “90% of Covid-19 deaths were in people 70 or older with one or more comorbidity, while the relative risk to the young and healthy is negligible.”
The researchers have sent a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa demanding an end to the lockdown and calling it a “humanitarian disaster” that will “dwarf Covid-19.”
As we previously highlighted, in the UK, Professor Richard Sullivan warns that there will be more excess cancer deaths than total coronavirus deaths due to cancer victims not getting screenings and treatment due to the focus on COVID-19.
China has made COVID-19 anal swab tests mandatory for nearly all international arrivals despite complaints that the procedure is humiliating.
The tests will be required for all travelers arriving at Beijing and Shanghai airports before they are allowed to enter the country.
Despite the degrading nature of the procedure, Chinese health authorities claim it is more effective at identifying COVID-19 than nasal swabs.
“The same procedure applies to visitors who came from countries where COVID-19 cases are high or they tested positive upon arrival,” reports IB Times. “If a person shows symptoms of diarrhea, he or she must also get an anal swab.”
Just a reminder of what China’s anal swab test for COVID looks like.
They have now made it mandatory for every foreign arrival into the country.
— Dr. David Samadi, MD (@drdavidsamadi) March 4, 2021
An alternative may be offered where travelers can provide stool samples instead, a procedure that is almost as humiliating anyway.
“If people are not familiar with the procedure for taking an anal swab test, our employees will help explain how it will be done,” a representative for the epidemic control department in the Daxing district of Beijing said.
As we highlighted earlier this week, Tokyo has asked Beijing to stop performing COVID-19 anal swabs on its citizens after complaints that the procedure causes “psychological pain.”
Reports also emerged that U.S. diplomatic staff had been forced to undergo this procedure, although China initially denied this then claimed it was an “error”.
Given that the media and western leaders have effusively praised China for its coronavirus response, which at one point included welding people inside their own homes, one wonders why they would have a problem with anal swabs.
Surely if anal swabs provide a better way of detecting COVID-19, they should be made mandatory worldwide?
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar apologized after celebrating the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has been “really good for (CNN) ratings.”
Kilar made the initial remarks during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference.
“It turns out that pandemic is a pretty big part of the news cycle, and that’s not going away anytime soon,” Kilar said.
“If you take a look at the ratings and the performance, it’s going well. And I think it’s going well because, A, the team at CNN is doing a fantastic job. And B, it turns out that the pandemic and the way that we can help inform and contextualize the pandemic, it turns out it’s really good for ratings,” he added.
WarnerMedia is the parent company of CNN.
After his comments received criticism, Kilar tried to walk them back, claiming, ” I would like nothing more than for this pandemic to be well behind us.”
I agree Joe. I would like nothing more than for this pandemic to be well behind us. I mean that with every fiber in my body. I wish I could go back and be more thoughtful about my communication.
Kilar’s hope that the pandemic is “not going away anytime soon” provides an insight into the agenda of networks like CNN when it comes to COVID-19 reporting.
Does CNN campaign against lockdown restrictions and mask mandates being lifted in the name of public safety, or is it more likely that a selfish motivation for maintaining high ratings is the real reason behind this editorial stance?
CNN recently enjoyed its best ever February in terms of overall viewers while also taking first place among viewers 25-54, the key demographic most valued by advertisers.
Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician who regularly appears on CNN, says Americans should wear masks and socially distance every winter in order to reduce flu hospitalizations and deaths.
“If we mask and social distance every winter, we will see a dramatic reduction in the flu, which usually causes hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and tens of thousands of deaths,” Offit told the network.
As we previously highlighted, flu cases have virtually disappeared since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with health authorities in England announcing that not a single case of influenza has been detected this year.
However, according to epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski, this is likely due to the fact that many flu infections are being falsely counted as COVID-19 cases.
Last month, Dr. Fauci also said that it’s to be expected Americans will be wearing masks for the rest of this year and into 2022.
A senior U.S. Army official also said that mask wearing and social distancing will become permanent, while CNN’s international security editor Nick Paton Walsh asserted that the mandatory wearing of masks will become “permanent,” “just part of life,” and that the public would need to “come to terms with it.”
Other prominent individuals, such as the World Economic Forum’s Klaus Schwab, have asserted that the world will “never” return to normal after the COVID pandemic.
“There will likely be more voluntary masking after the COVID pandemic has receded, especially during flu season,” writes Evan James. “But it’d be intolerable to expect to live in a “new normal” where masks and social distancing become a routine tool of government control, or where choosing not to mask becomes a cause for social ostracism.”
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