That's the headline in today's South China Morning Post. And, yes, grim. But as a commenter notes at the site, about 100 people die in Hong Kong every week of tobacco connected cancer. Avoidable, in other words. And that’s in a week, whereas the 100 grim deaths are over nine months.
To which comment, I added:
I worry that government officials and advisers are working on a "zero virus" strategy, which was never the aim, cannot be achieved, but will be ruinous to our society and economy. And what happens if we reach zero, open up, and find that, inevitably, there are more cases. Is it then back to lockdown??To which comment, I added:
100 deaths = "grim milestone". But every year in Hong Kong 48,000 of us die. Of which -- just looking at diseases similar to Covid -- 11,250 of us die of pneumonia and lower respiratory diseases (Gov figs). These too are "grim milestones". But we don't tie ourselves in knots to avoid them. Perspective needed. A sense of proportion. It’s time to open up.
Overall, why are we treating this virus so massively differently from all other preventable diseases? It's insanity.
ADDED: 100 deaths in Hong Kong makes it 15 deaths per million. Just a tenth of the world average of 150, and a twentieth of Britain, Europe and the US averages of around 600 deaths per million. Let alone a similarly international city, New York at 1,700 per million (the world’s highest, by the way).
