Silent Witness
The dead can tell us many things, they are silent witnesses to things which might well be missed and at this moment in time, apologists for the Govt and their handling of this pandemic, should we believe NOT be given national platforms to get in early excuses for the avoidance of responsibility for the current Govt’s handling of the pandemic.
David Spiegelhalter a statistician and professor of the public understanding of risk at the University of Cambridge, claimed yesterday in The Guardian, we should not compare international variation in death rates from coronavirus as yet, and would not be able to do so for some time.
We personally have to disagree with him. The EuroMoMo website that says this of itself:
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EuroMOMO is a European mortality monitoring activity, aiming to detect and measure excess deaths related to seasonal influenza, pandemics and other public health threats.
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Official national mortality statistics are provided weekly from the 24 European countries in the EuroMOMO collaborative network, supported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
To be totally fair and correct in any assessment and comparison you must consider the ‘variables’ that may affect results – this would include amongst other data a countries population density etc. – a direct comparison is not necessarily the truth? But often suits headline journalism for the tabloids ( Not Shepway Vox? )
Thanks L B. EuroMoMo DO take all those variables into account, as is made very clear on their site.
Well reported, I think you can compare countries and their responses, some countries have managed death tolls in the tens. I understand foreign media has been scathing of this countries response, a bit like when Italy had high figures and the UK newspapers attacked Italys handling of the crisis.
It is easy to call for political accountability when no-one will ever know how well the opposition would have handled this.
Imagine the outcry if a Govt was constantly spending money to replace lifed equipment “just in case”, I am sure Shepwayvox would question this.
Having gone from a manufacturing based economy to a service based one, it is not surprising that demand outstrips supply, it also shows the weakness of the Just In Time model when many Nations are demanding the same kit.