We must learn to live with covid19

THE EDITOR: On August 9 there were 20,024,263 covid19 cases worldwide and 773,995 deaths.

University of Alberta virologist David Marchant who has spent his research life looking for a treatment for the dangerous respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), has said vaccines aren’t a certainty.

“I’m not optimistic that we’ll find a vaccine in the next few years because we have so little data on the coronavirus,” said Marchant, who holds the Canada research chair in viral pathogenesis. “In fact, I propose that this virus will become endemic. Viruses aren’t things we can fight; they’re things you learn to live with, treat and mitigate.”

I am convince that covid19 will be with us for many years to come and we must continue to live. We test, contact trace and quarantine infected people – not uninfected people. Thinking that lockdowns, wearing masks and physical distancing will stop the spread is utopian; it might slow it down but that is still not conclusive.

The fight against covid19 is a marathon, not a sprint. We must take actions we can sustain. Locking down a country has a detrimental effect on the economy and must be used surgically, if at all. Strategic testing and quarantining infected people are more effective than locking down an entire country or section of a country.

Because testing is expensive and time-consuming that is no reason not to do it. It costs far more in economic loss than to spend the time and resources on testing and quarantining infected people. Thousands have lost their jobs because of lockdowns and other covid19 practices. The practice of rampant lockdowns is penny wise and pound foolish.

Life must go on although I do not like wearing a mask because of the long-term health risk due to breathing in too much carbon dioxide and viral load (total amount of a virus a person has inside of them). But it is better than a lockdown.

Social distancing in the open air is uncertain because the breeze blows droplets far and one cannot calculate the optimal distance. I have ran several mathematical models and there are too many variables. The processing power of my laptop is too small.

Practising good hygiene always contributes to good health. Billionaires in the US have increased their wealth by US$637 billion since March. It is not the pandemic but government actions that cause unnecessary hardship on the most vulnerable. It can be handled differently.

The lockdown hurts the poor the most and government aid is usually politically bias and inadequate. Eventually a government will have to increase taxes and make spending cuts and the poor will be disproportionally affected. Lives can be protected by quarantining the infected – not the healthy.

We must protect the vulnerable such as the elderly and people with other illnesses like hypertension and diabetes.

“Wealth is not about having a lot of money; it’s about having a lot of options” – Chris Rock.

BRIAN E PLUMMER

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