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    Re: New excess death counts reveal more complete toll of coronavirus pandemic Archived Message

    Posted by johnlilburne on August 23, 2020, 12:32 pm, in reply to "New excess death counts reveal more complete toll of coronavirus pandemic"

    Yes, it is the number of 'excess deaths' that is key. It will need to be assessed over a longer time period in order to get a fuller picture.

    It makes all the arguments over whether a particular death should be put down to covid directly or to another underlying condition rather moot.

    'Excess deaths' are an indicator of the lack of preparedness of a society for a pandemic and its failure to act appropriately once the virus has hit it.

    Here in the UK it been known for a while that a pandemic was likely to occur at some point and that we were ill-prepared for one, as revealed in Exercise Cygnus.

    But, neoliberal ideology trumped concern for the health of the people.

    A prepared society is able to handle a health crisis, whilst minimising the effects on the rest of the health service, enabling it to continue to adequately treat those suffering from other - non covid related - potentially lethal chronic and acute conditions.

    A prepared society has a government able and willing to tackle a crisis in a proper manner. A government that recognises the need to test-trace-and isolate from the get-go, reducing the need for more than selective lockdowns and the economic and social damage that prolonged lockdowns can cause.

    A prepared society needs a government that is competent and that conveys a clear and consistent message not one is dedicated to shuffling responsibility elsewhere, including onto a confused populace.

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