Collateral Damage: Are we sacrificing our young to the pandemic?

Year/ Disease Total no. cases Total no. deaths Case fatality rate
2017, Influenza 251,000 1255 0.005%
2020, COVID-19 26,000 678 0.02%

However, Professor Foster believes this does not necessarily mean that these are the best measures to continue with.

“Victoria should lift wholesale lockdown and schools and universities should reopen. We can’t protect people by having young people cowering at home,” Professor Foster said.

“Our young people are being deprived of the opportunities that previous generations have had…no death is ok, but we are killing more people by keeping us locked down.

“Our children will be carrying the effects of these draconian lockdowns for the rest of their lives.

“The Australian government needs to change the messaging around coronavirus. It should be a message that prioritises human welfare overall.

“The government response should be driven by policy that recognises the importance of a functioning economy.

“It should direct resources appropriately towards places in the community where people are more vulnerable to succumbing to the virus, instead of enforcing wholesale lockdowns.”

have been able to function at reduced capacity, l ife in Sweden hasn’t been upended in the way it has in other countries.

Questioning Government Messaging

Professor Foster believes our government is using a fear campaign to scare people into complying with the restrictions, focussing on what could be considered anomalies, such as a young person becoming seriously ill or dying from COVID-19, encourages an irrational response to the virus.

The statistics show COVID-19 overwhelmingly affects the elderly and those with co-morbidities, not young people, which is why she advocates to allow our youth to live their lives with few limitations.

full lockdowns are significantly associated with increased patient recovery rates, however are not associated with mortality rates, which appear to be more closely linked to health care capacity and co-morbidities.

“This is nowhere near as big a crisis as we are being led to believe,” Professor Foster said.

“A single-minded focus on one aspect of welfare is dangerous. Poverty, isolation and mental anguish in the community are only exacerbated by lockdowns and made worse by a failing economy.

“Loss of productivity and loss of jobs will have an enormous deleterious effect on the living. We are putting millions more lives at risk from these things than the lives at risk from COVID-19.”

Originally published at https://www.mojonews.com.au on September 9, 2020.