COVID-19: Please, let's open up the economy... and never close it again

Covid-19

LIFT THE LOCKDOWN

Please,

LET’S OPEN UP THE ECONOMY

… and …

NEVER CLOSE IT AGAIN

by Gerhard Papenfus

Before expressing my view herein, I wish to emphasise:

• I am neither a medical expert, nor a scientist;
• I supported the lockdown; and
• I do not, in any way, blame our political leadership for their decisions taken in this regard.

I am not pointing fingers at the political leadership, simply because once the narrative of the lockdown was created by the Chinese Government, in respect of the city of Wuhan, and praised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the world had to follow. There simply wasn’t time for proper research and independent thinking. Globally, the media drove both the health and the political narrative.

I predict that one day, we (the citizens of the world) will look back on this and realise fools were made of us. When that day comes we will respond with a mixture of embarrassment and fury.

Every life is invaluable. However, the lives lost as a result of Covid-19 are insignificant in comparison to other causes which cost the lives of people globally. Covid-19 is in fact, right at the bottom of the list. Today (yes, today only) 135 000 innocent unborn babies will lose their lives as a result of abortion. Has the world gone totally mad?

In comparison, since the outbreak of Covid-19, 162 000 people have lost their lives in circumstances where the virus played a role. The majority of them were elderly people with underlying health issues. Saying this does not detract from a life lost, for whatever reason.

81% of the global workforce is affected by the lockdown. All of them will be affected financially. Many of them will be financially ruined. This is without considering the millions which are not accounted for statistically, who, during this period, do not earn a cent. The point is this: many more will die as a result of the economic fall-out from Covid-19, than the actual deaths as a result of the virus.

The world was made to believe that the global lockdown was as a result of a choice between lives and the economy. It is not. It is, as Mike Schüssler has pointed out, a decision between lives and lives.

It is time to open up the economy, and not even to wait until the end of April.

Never again must we (the people and the leadership of the world) allow ourselves to be placed in this position.

We must take this decision now – before it happens again.

Regards
NEASA Media Department
marietha@neasa.co.za

We are all in this together.
Privileged and challenged to be South African.