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| Backyard Siena One, Discovery Bay |
The swimming pools are still open with water temperatures at 25C. Crisp and clean. If you’re a sailor, there’s plenty of competition on the beautiful local waters. Like this weekend is the Round the Island Race, that we’ve taken part in on our past boats Thea and Xena.
But we still have our quarantines. Three weeks alone in a hotel when you arrive. If you can find a room — nothing currently available. The most stringent controls in the world.
Even as infectious diseases expert, Guan Yi in China goes against the orthodoxy there, stating: “Zero Covid cannot work”. Yay to him! How long before he has to apologise and say he was “taken out of context”?
ADDED: Amazing turnaround in the comments. Just a few months ago they were all fully onboard with zero Covid and anyone that questioned it was lambasted. Now they all praise Guan for making “sane and sensible” comments. There are some who, like me, wonder how long Guan can last before his career is destroyed “in 3…2…1…”.
I’m recalling that early in in the pandemic, right at the beginning, epidemiologist and virologists — that is to say experts who were, one presumes, following “the science” — told us we could not expect to get to zero Covid. But somehow many governments decided not to follow that Science. I wonder if their policies net saved or net cost lives. I say “net” as lives directly saved from Covid have to be balanced against those lost by lockdowns. We much never forget that pursuit of zero Covid is not without its costs, like the 250,000 children in Southeast Asia who died due lockdowns, per WFP. These costs are albeit rarely spelled out or even mentioned. But they exist.
