Angry SAs speak: Has Covid-19 been one big ruse?

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It’s late and you’re stealing a moment before bed to scroll through your news feed. You see a post confirming a third alcohol ban is on the cards. You confirm with your partner that it’s utter nonsense. Fake news, again. Phew.

Fake news stories abound on social media, but our community is wondering: has Covid-19 been the biggest fake news story yet?

We know that the virus is real, and yes, it can be fatal for those with weakened immune systems and comorbidities. It’s especially dangerous for the elderly – there’s certainly no disputing that. We also know that some experience it differently, and that your symptoms can range from extremely mild to really unpleasant… if you survive.

But has the hype around the pandemic been a bit too much?

Were the lockdowns justified? Did South Africa sit at home and cripple its economy over five months for a good reason? Did the powers-that-be exaggerate figures to push political agendas?

Actuary Nick Hudson of Pandemic Data and Analytics (PANDA) makes no secret of the fact that he feels the lockdown was a huge mistake. In a recent interview with BizNews, Hudson reiterated his concerns.

“The reality is that we’ve just destroyed our economy for no good reason. We’re close to functional herd immunity in the Western Cape right now, which means that all of the stuff should be stopping. There’s no disaster. Basically, you’ve got a state of disaster, but no disaster. Put another way, the only disaster in this country is the lockdown.”

Hudson also predicted that the Western Cape’s numbers would stabilise – and they have.

“I know there are people out there who want to be able to say, look, we weren’t panicking for nothing, and they will go as hard as they can and fight as hard as they can to argue that those excess deaths are all coronavirus related and it has nothing to do with lockdown. We think they’re naive. We think that in a couple of weeks it’ll become clear. And as I say the province to watch is the Western Cape, because within weeks from now, the coronavirus curve will have dropped off to negligible levels.”

Our community members told us what they think, under Who will answer for Covid-19’s dark science? Brian Pottinger busts 10 myths.  Pottinger is a respected former newspaper editor, with a book coming out on the subject.

Here’s what they had to say.

Read also: Prof Pierre Faure: Maximum gatvolness – can honest, skilled SAs please stick around?

It’s political claptrap

AE Neuman says it’s not the pandemic that is most concerning.

“The pandemic is not fake. The virus exists, spread very quickly, and causes a nasty illness. The over-exuberant panic that has been generated has been intentional and serves many governments’ agenda of grabbing power whilst peoples’ attention is elsewhere. The panicdemic is far more dangerous than the viral disease.”

Niknaks feels it’s been an opportunity for the corrupt to thrive. “So many people have lost everything and been without salaries for months. Meanwhile everyone in the government got paid their fat salaries, some even used the opportunity to jump on their constituents heads by stealing food parcels and monies set aside for facemasks. Terrible people who will never pay the price.”

It would also seem that their sentiments are echoed in other parts of the globe.

MSP2 agrees, saying: “Mainstream media has slavishly followed the poor science and political agenda to terrorize the public into abject fear. This is no worse than a bad flu that kills old vulnerable people who needed protection until herd immunity and nature resolved the problem. I have lost faith in scientific colleagues especially so called epidemiologists and government.”

Read also: How to fix economy? Govt must walk the walk – Reserve Bank governor

How can it be fake news? 

Commenting on Brian Pottinger’s article, ‘Who will answer for Covid-19’s dark science? Brian Pottinger busts 10 myths’, Ignor Amus had the following to say: “Hindsight is perfect. I think these opinions are interesting and may have some truth to them but that is as far as it goes. It is quite possible that the actual death rate in SA is substantially greater than is reported for the simple reason that the state reporting systems are very weak/non existent in some areas.”

In response, AE Neuman wrote, “To write your post in another way, you consider the stupidity of the government to be acceptable since they are acting in ignorance since they have not bothered to get any factual information yet.”

Francois Malan put his view across rather passionately, too.

“The article ridicules the idea of lockdown but praises China’s response. But remember China’s response was a draconian lockdown. Furthermore the countries that downplayed the virus – such as Brazil and the USA – clearly had worse outcomes in terms of number of people dying, and also suffered economic pain. The WHO acted on the facts that it had at its disposal. One doesn’t gamble with infectious diseases. The ‘second wave’ is a real phenomenon in some parts of Europe at the moment, as far as number of infections are concerned. It was also a real thing in the 1918 flu. Thus far it is a much smaller wave, and there are low numbers of hospitalisations, but it is real. Everyone has their opinion, but it is incredibly arrogant to think that you know more about public health than people who actually work in the field.”

Ask your neighbour, and he or she will have an opinion on the matter. Fake news or not, South Africans can only practise caution and hope that the economy will start to recover now that we have moved to lockdown Level 2.

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