Govt needs to really follow the science

THE EDITOR: To anyone who hadn’t noticed, it should be plain as day that the Government only has knee-jerk reactions to the pandemic – reactions being presented to us as broad-stroke solutions. It closes all food places except street food, then expresses surprise when people line up for street food. It hears about lines outside PriceSmart and shuts it down – the one place where people can buy in bulk and therefore the one place that should remain open.

It likes to adopt terms from international news: “flattening the curve,” “sheltering in place.” The one I like most is “following the science.” A study was mentioned recently in the Wall Street Journal which indicates that transmission is much higher in the home than in the workplace (workplaces tend to be more spacious and better ventilated, and people are more likely to take precautions – keeping their distance, wearing masks, sanitising more often – than they do in their own homes).

It’s also a fact, corroborated by the CDC in the US, that viruses spread much more easily indoors than outdoors. In fact, the likelihood of being infected with coronavirus in an outdoor environment is exceedingly small. Worldwide data reviewed by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine show that 96 per cent of infections occur indoors, and of the four per cent of cases contracted outdoors, the vast majority are from mass gatherings and super-spreader events.

Since one must either be indoors or outdoors, it stands to reason that more restrictions placed on outdoor activity leads to people spending more time indoors, ergo more time in environments conducive to spread. And, of course, there is the element of physical and mental health, both of which improve greatly with outdoor activity and exercise; both of which diminish appreciably when deprived of such.

At a time when people should be encouraged and incentivised to spend more time outdoors safely and responsibly, this government has employed yet another broad-brush measure and banned all outdoor activity, period. Why? The science indicates that such measures are likely to increase spread while having a deleterious effect on citizens’ health and well-being.

So follow through on your adopted phrase, and follow the science.

C MENDES

St Ann’s