Enough lockdown: the WHO turnaround and the Barrington Declaration. Chinese (and Italian) model disavowed
"We do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of controlling this virus," warns Dr. David Nabarro (WHO). But the discredit that WHO has attracted for the way it has handled the Covid-19 emergency does not help to take the change of course seriously. WHO is still awaiting Beijing's green light to the international mission of experts which should carry out an independent investigation into the pandemic
“We do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of controlling this virus. We believe that the only case in which a lockdown is justified is to take time to reorganize, rebalance and rearrange resources; and to protect healthcare workers. But in principle it is best to avoid it. This is why we strongly appeal to all the leaders of the world: stop using lockdown as the main method of control ”.
To make this statement, a real appeal, was Dr. David Nabarro, WHO special envoy for Covid-19 , interviewed by the journalist of the British newspaper The Spectator , Andrew Neil, on 11 October. Lockdowns , he added, “stop the virus, but don't eliminate it. On the other hand, they have only one consequence that must never be underestimated, and that is they make the poor frighteningly poorer ”.
Dr Nabarro's statements mirror those contained in his article published a few days earlier on 4SD , “Reflections about the Middle Path” , in which he urges governments to find a balance between restrictions and normal life. "Too many restrictions reduce the means of subsistence available and cause resentment in the people," writes Nabarro. The message of the article is that the essential measures to be adopted are thorough personal hygiene, while public health systems are responsible for organizing services for identifying and tracing the virus, isolating those who fall ill and protecting those at risk: "It is important to have of resources to detect the virus, identify spikes and manage them ”.
“It is a 180 ° change of course for the UN body that had always advised to adopt restrictive measures, on the Chinese model. Extreme measures, previously exalted, are now considered not so necessary ", commented the AsiaNews news agency, one of the first to spread the news in Italy, just as the increase in the number of cases raises fears of new restrictive measures and economic damage and social that they would entail.
The discredit that WHO has attracted for the way it has handled the Covid-19 emergency does not help to take seriously the words of Dr. Nabarro, his request for a different approach.
The distrust is such that some countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, are considering the possibility of leaving the WHO and suspending contributions. Speaking for the countries damaged by the delay with which the human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus was denounced by the WHO and by the methods adopted to tackle the pandemic, United States President Donald Trump, during the annual assembly of the UN agency held in video conference on 18 and 19 May last, it asked for substantial improvements in the management of the organism and defined the general manager as a "puppet of China". They use less colorful expressions, but there are many in the world who denounce, not wrongly, that the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, must be accountable to China because of the close relations of his country, Ethiopia, with Beijing.
On the final day of the general assembly, May 19, the 194 member states of the WHO unanimously voted on a motion presented by the EU to ask for an independent investigation into the pandemic and the work of the UN agency during the crisis. But at the moment the WHO is still awaiting the green light from Beijing to the international mission of experts that should carry out the investigation. On October 5, Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergency Program, confirmed that the Chinese authorities still have not approved the list of participants. It is clear that the reliability of the investigation will greatly depend on the composition of the mission.
The unexpected statements of Dr. Nabarro will confirm in some the distrust of the WHO. The fact is that a few days later the launch of a petition signed by professors, doctors, epidemiologists, scientists from all over the world against generalized lockdowns follows : the Great Barrington Declaration , from the name of the place in the United States in which October 4 was signed by the first three scientists.
"As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we are very concerned about the harmful effects on physical and mental health caused by the prevalent policies adopted by governments regarding Covid-19 ".
Thus begins the petition which recommends adopting instead a method that the signatories have called "targeted protection":
"The most charitable way, which balances the risks and benefits of achieving herd immunity, is to allow those at minimal risk to live normally to acquire immunity to the virus through natural infection, while protecting themselves in the meantime. well the most fragile people, at high risk ".
They further explain in the petition:
“The current blockade policies are having devastating effects on public health, in the short and long term. The results (just to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, less cancer screening and deterioration in mental health, resulting in an increase in mortality in the years to come " .
In concrete terms, the Great Barrington Declaration asks that economic, social, cultural life… take place normally: bars, restaurants, schools, sports centers, cinemas open and frequented without restrictions, without prejudice to the recommended hygiene standards. By October 15, 25,000 doctors and just under 10,000 scientists had already signed it. But in Italy their appeal and that of Dr. Nabarro do not seem to have been taken into consideration yet.
The post Basta lockdown: the WHO turnaround and the Barrington Declaration. Chinese (and Italian) model disavowed appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/rubriche/basta-lockdown-il-dietrofront-delloms-e-la-dichiarazione-di-barrington-modello-cinese-e-italiano-sconfessato/ on Sat, 17 Oct 2020 04:06:00 +0000.