CoVid19 post vaccination: The media is not doing a good job. They are not asking the right questions.

(Note: This piece was written before 19th July 2021. But I have decided not to edit it and just publish "as is". This is to emphasise the "planning ahead" part rather than what actually happen. Depending on what happen in the UK after 19th July 2021, I may write a follow up.) 

Referring to my previous post here.

It seems Singapore is not the only country with a plan to go back to normal.

The UK is planning to go back to normal also.

In fact, while Singapore is still planning, the UK already set a date for it; which is; 

19th July 2021.

Refer to the UK Prime Minister speech (here) in which he detailed out clearly and concisely the plan to go back to normal.

But of course, the fear mongering media, part of the "safety & health, afraid of everything, generation", kept asking the wrong question.

Listen to this news anchor questioning the UK Health Minister (here). They are focusing on the increasing case numbers, which the Health Minister conceded is increasing.

But the news anchor is ignoring the main point that the Minister is saying. After fully vaccinating 66% of the population (80% for 1st dose) - as of the date of the interview - the link between case numbers to hospitalisation & deaths are greatly reduced. But they kept harping on the case numbers. 

The case numbers are irrelevant! If they are not sick, there is no point tracking them! 

Now, I know, many people distrust politicians, myself included. But notice that the news anchor did not even challenge the UK Health Minister on the reduced rate of hospitalisation cases & deaths. Which made me think that they know the greatly reduced rate is correct, but that they want to stoke fear among the population to demand extended lockdown. How to do that? By focusing on the increasing case numbers which is meaningless since majority, higher majority, do not need hospitalisation. 

Why do they want extended lockdown? I cannot answer that without going into conspiracy theory territories. But bad news sells, and if people cannot go out, the primary activity of choice is watching TV & social media. Who else benefits if lockdown is extended? Think for yourself!

Anyway, I notice the media in Malaysia is also focusing on the case numbers. Nobody is analysing the rate of hospitalisation & deaths before & after vaccination. This is crucial in formulating a revised public health policies and a major factor in deciding whether we should reopen society and the economy.

So, if you are a journalist, please ask the right question. If you have the ears of your elected MPs or ministers, please highlight this to them.

Do not be like headless chicken. We should stop "fighting fires". We should be planning to open back society & the economy. Correct data and analysis of that data is crucial. 

Stop fear mongering. Show the people how we can start living with and managing CoVid19, just like the flu.

CoVid19: Putting CoVid19 deaths in perspective & planning to go back to normal.

I want to clarify that the idea in the previous post is not totally mine. It was a summary and an interpretation of an idea (here, here, here & here) proposed by the Singaporean government, which I agree. The bit of original idea from me is the bit about adding ICU beds and related facilities to cater for the increase in ICU cases.

What the Singapore government is planning is rational and based on a balance of risks. This is after studying the global data for the past 1.5 years, and an increase understanding of the virus. Now that they have the data, I assume they did their own statistical analysis.

For myself, I just google for some data on daily death rate to try and put CoVid19 deaths in perspective.

Below is the infograph that I found from this webpage.

As you can see, the CoVid19 deaths at the bottom are reported in three time period with different average number. Even at the highest peak of deaths, the average death from CoVid19 still did not surpass the current causes of deaths.

This is what I mean when I say we can live with CoVid19 & CoVid19 deaths. CoVid19 deaths will just become another statistics just like any other causes of deaths. Something we have to deal with and manage everyday, just like any other statistics above. (I think this is what the Singapore government also meant, but I do not want to put words in their mouths).

I think after vaccination, the numbers for CoVid19 will decrease, not to zero, but decrease to a smaller circle. To open back the economy, I do not think we have to wait until we reach 80%. We just have to vaccinate the elderly, the vulnerable and those that we know have co-morbidity issues. Then, concurrently, with ongoing vaccination for the rest of the population, we can open back the economy. Please take note that many experts also agree that young children are at lower risk of developing severe symptoms from CoVid19. So we do not have to wait until children are vaccinated. You can just google it if you want to check this fact.

But of course governments all over the world are reluctant to consider this (except Singapore). Half are governed by "safety & health generation", those who are afraid of deaths, afraid of risks, who do not live in the real world. These politicians reminded me of Kathy Bates character "Annie Wilkes" in the movie "Misery" who care for the injured "Paul Sheldon" (played by James Caan) by locking him in his bedroom and not allowing him to go out. She even break his leg in order to prevent him from leaving his bed. (Just like the government "breaking" the people's mental health in lockdown in order to "treat" them of CoVid19. Do you see the irony?). 

The other half are governed by corrupt politicians who take the opportunities of lockdown and Emergency declaration to stay in power under dictatorial rule while siphoning off money from government coffers under emergency expenses (meaning without Parliamentary supervision) for CoVid19 related initiatives.

What is my point?

Refer back to my previous post.

Refer to the Singapore plan.

It is time to start planning to go back to Normal.

Soon.

PS: Again, I have to stress, I am not a healthcare expert or a public health policy expert. But this is something you can think for yourself if you have the time and mental faculty to research and read for yourself. As always, any comment and challenging feedback are welcome.

Salam.

CoVid19: It is time to recalibrate & restructure our healthcare facilities & policies.

This lockdown has been going on long enough. 
We are still living from one outbreak to another outbreak.
This is not tenable.

We need to start planning to go back to normal. 

We need to start planning to live with CoVid19. 

We have to start living with CoVid19.

We cannot have lockdown after lockdown.
I repeat, this is not tenable.

We need to start treating CoVid19 like other diseases like the flu, chicken pox, malaria, dengue, etc.

When we have a dengue or malaria outbreak, do we declare war with mosquitoes and commit ourselves to mosquito genocide? 

NO.

Do we stop people from going out at night or to the jungle? 

NO.

We continue on living and just treat people with malaria & dengue, conduct extra fogging & issue out public service announcement on TV and social media. We do not commit ourselves to mosquito genocide or to zero malaria & dengue death. Because we know it is impossible and impractical.

Similarly, every festival holidays, road accidents and related fatalities increase when more vehicles ply the road to go back to kampungs. 
Do we stop people from going back to kampungs every holiday even though road accidents fatalities increase compared to normal days?
NO.

We go on living as normal and just treat those that got injured in car accidents and bury the dead. We put out public service announcement on road safety and have more police patrol and stricter enforcement but we do not aim for zero accidents or zero death because again it is almost impossible and impractical.

There are Ebola & Zika in the African continents.
Do we stop people from going to Africa?
NO.
We let people know the risks before they go.

We have had MERS-CoV in the Middle East.
Do we stop people from going to pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia?
NO.
We dealt with it.

People die of diabetes almost everyday.
Do we ban sugar and food with sugar?
NO.
We educate people about sugar and let them make their own choices.

Same with CoVid19.
We need to start dealing with it.
Living with CoVid19 in our midst.
Just like the flu & the common cold.

How?

We need to recalibrate and restructure our healthcare facilities, specifically hospital beds & ICU wards facilities.

These facilities are provided by government & private hospitals based on the number of deaths and diseases and accidents that happen on an average day.

We have the statistics.

We know the accident rates of injuries & fatalities number.
We know the rate of people dying and requiring treatment from other diseases, heart diseases, cancer, dying old people, etc, on an average day.

From all these statistics, we calibrate our healthcare facilities and plan on the national level how many hospitals, beds, ICU wards we need all over the country.

With CoVid19, even post vaccination, these statistics will increase by a certain number.
The current healthcare facilities does not take CoVid19 into account.
That is why ICU are flooded.

If we take CoVid19 into account, then the ICU beds need to be added.
The healthcare facilities need to be recalibrated to take into account the CoVid19 numbers.

Then, anybody with severe symptoms to CoVid19 will just be treated the same as people that have severe symptoms with flu, pneumonia, diabetes, major strokes, etc.

No more testing, no more contact tracing, no more quarantine for people without symptoms or people who are not sick.

Let people live as normal.

If people get sick, let them rest at home, just like any other diseases such as flu or common cold.

And just like any other diseases or flu or common cold, if they get worse, go to the hospital for treatment.

Or if you are like some people who go to hospitals or clinic even for mild fever or mild symptoms, then continue doing so, and if you feel like it, ask your doctor to check for your antigen.

Everything is voluntary as per before the pandemic.

With this, CoVid19 will be treated as endemic.

You may ask, where to get the money to add all these new healthcare facilities?

How about diverting all the money in setting up all the quarantine centres to set up new ICU facilities.

Get back to normal as soon as possible, recover and grow the economy, and divert all the new taxes from the economic growth to this initiative.

We cannot go on like this, living from one lockdown to another. The suicide numbers is increasing, racing to catch up with CoVid19 death numbers. This is not including death from poverty, which can cause malnutrition & crimes of desperation.

I am not a healthcare expert. This is just a radical idea that pop up in my head after doing my own reading. If you disagree, you can comment and give your own idea. You can challenge this idea or give your own idea. 

This idea may be radical and difficult to implement but not impossible, I think.

I do not know what is the best idea to start going back to normal, but I do know one thing.

We cannot be held hostage by this Corona virus anymore.

We have to suck it up and go back to normal before Malaysia becomes a failed state from this economic lockdown.

Salam.