No to the hype about pandemic

THE EDITOR: The covid19 disease is proving not to have pandemic proportions. Having or getting an immunity deficiency tends to be the decisive factor whether someone will suffer any consequences, if infected; even here death is not a sure result.

General medicine will treat the problem for everyone including for those at risk and there is a diversity of options that can be tailored to individuals' needs and stages.

Most people who are infected will survive and the majority will undergo an infection and beat it without medicine or hospitalisation. Even without masks and distancing, infectivity and spread rates are not high.

There are multiple precautions that health professionals can use, in treatment facilities, that do not carry negative side effects. A vaccine is not essential. Infection after vaccination is possible where general medicine still prevails.

The money going after covid19 can build separate facilities for those most at risk. Covid19 has not had any significant impact on fatality rates and will not in the future. Overall, the disease has all the markings of ordinary pathology that is best handled through regular medical channels.

The Public Health Ordinance was not set up to usurp medical practice. It is designed for emergency situations. Its origin is the public health legislation in England in the 1870s, whose target was the inherently dangerous environment pervading London slums before London developed its sewerage system.

For covid19, uncertainty during early 2020 may have justified invoking the ordinance but the reality now has been shown to be otherwise.

E GALY

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