Are we being played

[Richard]

The statistics here are quite unreliable, ordinary flu typically returns in the winter months, we probably all know how unpleasant that flu is and how seriously unwell it can make us feel.
Deaths amongst the elderly are possibly now recorded as a result of Covid, through ignorance, but how do we know what the case really is, unless meaningful testing has been carried out?
Would the elderly not die from ordinary flu, as a complication to normal breathing problems of pneumonia, bronchitis and other lung infections, then how do we really know what is going on?
We have no idea what the situation is and are subject to a lot of scare-mongering and mass-media knee-jerk interpretations.

[UncleB]

That seems a bit scaremongering - we do have a really good idea of the impact on the death rate caused by Covid when we compare it with the long term normal death rate at the same time of year.

There is a long, details and rather dry analysis that explains it here:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulation ... 2020-06-26

There are plenty of links to find more details if you want to educate yourself, but it takes effort.

Statistics by their nature are not exact - they represent a form of estimation based on mathematical modelling and previous numbers that are often inexact themselves, so they can only give us a guide.

So in conclusion we do have a pretty good idea where we are, we know the statistics are only a fuzzy guide to the future and we know Covid is killing a shed load of people yet we still see morons refusing to wear masks in busy spaces, won't follow the guidelines on gatherings and often fail to follow good practice to keep their hands clean because they feel somehow exempt from their social responsibility.

Much as it pains me, I think a much more authoritarian approach to making people follow the rules is needed as it is not the lives of the morons that is so much at risk but those they come in contact with and the ones the contacts then come in contact with.

[Richard]

Well, yes! But Boris was warned by scientific advisors to impose a lock-down across the whole country in September when the virus cases were quite low, but he refused to follow advice, citing damage to business.
That action would probably have save many lives.
Now we are in between a rock and a hard place and have to endure 4 weeks shutdown and possibly an extension.
The flu typically peaks in winter time, going off past experience, so a chance was lost to restrict infection spread.
In short the flu (covid or otherwise) has a cycle of its own, and we are acting too late in the season. Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

[Richard]

In some ways we are in the territory of the Aids Virus, people panicked by governmental messages of doom and gloom and nobody really understanding what to do to avoid contamination, especially in the early days.
We now have a much clearer picture on the mechanism behind the spread of the Aids virus, but it took many years to develop a medicine to arrest the symptoms.
Blaming a certain segment of the population for care-free sexual behaviour was only part of the answer.
Even today (as in the times of Aids) I hear of people refusing to take precautions, i.e. by wearing masks.