Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1301773
9 OPINION Kevin-James Fenech Kevin is the founder and owner of JOB Search - jobsearch.mt and FENCI Consulting fenci.eu. He is a management consultant and business advisor by profession, focusing on strategy, human resources and recruitment. He has a passion for anything related to business and has written about the topic for over 10 years in most major newspapers or journals A s predicted, the Med- ical Association of Malta (MAM) flexed its muscles and went on a Ma- fia style intimidation exercise in recent weeks. e outcome of which was more restrictive pub- lic health laws. e core message to the Gov- ernment remains 'do as we say or else!'. e problem is that with each disproportionate imposition and restriction, we are as a country falling down a slippery authoritarian slope. We also seem to be discriminating, in a prejudicial manner, between the COVID19 virus and other more serious killers such as cancer or heart disease. COVID19 clearly is the number 1 priority right now despite the low death rate. Furthermore, the state is arbi- trarily taking away a lot of our liberties; including the right to breathe fresh outside. e silent majority, currently, say nothing in good faith but questions are starting to be whispered. For example, the wearing of a face mask everywhere except your own home is (a) based on weak science (b) not tackling the root cause and (c) defies ba- sic common sense. is decision is the direct re- sult of undue pressure (men- tioned above) and the volume of misinformation and half-truths on the subject. I genuinely be- lieve that the banning of breath- ing fresh when outside is the direct result of this misinforma- tion campaign and the illegiti- mate pressure being applied on government by some sectors. e end result of all this is that in the name of 'public health' great democratic crimes are being committed against our people; crimes which remove our liberty unnecessarily and undermine our social and eco- nomic wellbeing. Let me tackle just three of the most popular topics: COVID19 death rate We keep being told by the 'experts' that the COVID19 death rate is alarmingly high (e.g. Spain 3.4%; US 2.7%; Malta 0.97%). What we are not being told by the authorities is that the calculation being used is crude: a division of number of deaths by the number of confirmed cases. What sadly we are not being told is that most active cases have gone unrecorded this year and this has been confirmed by antibody tests carried out in various countries in recent months. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the total num- ber of infections is estimated to be anything between 6 to 24 times greater than the number of reported cases. So our 4,737 cases if multiplied by a factor of 6 equates to 28,422 cases this year which would mean that the COVID19 death rate in Malta is actually 0.15%. In fact, WHO calculates the world COVID19 death rate to be near 0.66%. I think this number is im- mensely important for decision makers, since it allows them to calibrate their decisions accord- ing to the actual risk to public health in a proportionate man- ner. In such a scenario, I wouldn't ban people from breathing fresh air when outside. Lockdowns, curfews and restrictions A one-size-fits-all set of public health restrictions suffocate lib- erty and unfairly impose grave economic hardship on the gen- eral population. In the words of Dr. David Na- barro, a special envoy of WHO on COVID19: 'Lockdowns….just have one consequence that you must never ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer.' In fact, WHO esti- mates that in 2020 and because of COVID19, poverty levels will have doubled! What some sectors of this country fail to understand or appreciate, perhaps, is that without a functioning economy, the whole of society unravels and breaks down. is is why we must always adopt a bal- anced approach to our COV- ID19 strategy and lockdowns or semi-lockdowns do more harm than good. Herd Immunity We are told by some 'experts' that herd immunity is a terrible thing and not feasible. Gabriella Gomes of the Liv- erpool School of Tropical Medicine published research which claims that countries can achieve herd immunity with just 10 to 20 percent of the pop- ulation being infected. Needless to say, this is a far cry from the original 60%-70%-90% we were quoted earlier this year. Apparently, it is all down to how the 'coefficient of variation' is calculated but we are getting technical although if interested I recommend you read: https:// www.spectator.co.uk/article/ h e r d - i m m u n i t y - m a y - o n l y - need-a-10-per-cent-infection- rate In the words of Prof. Sunetra Grupta (more on her below): 'Life can go back to normal if we make it our common goal to achieve herd immunity'. What I am quoting is not something that a handful of courageous scientists/experts/ doctors are propagating but literally thousands of experts that have joined this global movement warning of 'grave concerns' about COVID19 lockdown restrictive policies. I am specifically referring to the Great Barrington Declaration; https://gbdeclaration.org/ For the record, the Declaration is authored by none other than: Dr. Martin Kulldorff, pro- fessor of medicine at Harvard University, a biostatistician, and epidemiologist with expertise in detecting and monitoring infec- tious disease outbreaks and vac- cine safety evaluations; Dr. Sunetra Gupta, professor at Oxford University, an epi- demiologist with expertise in immunology, vaccine develop- ment, and mathematical mode- ling of infectious diseases; Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, profes- sor at Stanford University Med- ical School, a physician, epide- miologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations. My point is that we are sac- rificing an awful lot of liberty, raising serious ethical questions and systematically failing to use our common sense when it comes to public health policies and regulations, and all because of a fear caused by misinforma- tion and half-truths. Don't be afraid to critically think and challenge some of the things being imposed on you. Breathe fresh air when outside or forever breath your own Co2 with your face mask. Editor's Note: The opinions and statements in this article are strictly those of the author and do not represent the opinion of BusinessToday. BusinessToday strongly believes in strictly following the advice, recommendations and regulations issued by the Health Department and the Superintendent for Public Health Breathing fresh air is banned 22.10.2020