A lot of emphasis has been put on the number of people dying from COVID. I saw an interesting chart a week or so ago with the number of excess deaths. These were split in two groups, one COVID and a second group OTHER. This gives you an idea of some of the other side of the coin – there are a significant number of deaths being caused by lockdown.
As you introduce restrictions the number of deaths from the virus reduces to a low level. But at some point you also start to increase the deaths from other causes, and if you become too restrictive then you start to kill more people from the restrictions than the virus kills.
The worst case is actually not doing nothing, it is doing too much – and pushing restrictions to a point that society breaks down. This is because a breakdown in society effectively releases the virus and also kills people from lack of societal support (clean water, health service).
And if you think this is far fetched look at what is happening in the USA. It doesn’t take much to start to tip things over the edge, and it does not need to be related to the virus or the lockdown. It is just something that causes a pressure release.
In the UK you just need to look at the beaches over the weekend to see how much pressure has built up. The slow removal of restrictions is an attempt to release the pressure gently rather than waiting for a system failure. I mentioned before that lockdown ending was not simply about meeting criteria – it is as much about how willing society is to live with lockdown.
So what does that mean for us – well it means that every time we say “No I will not exercise my right to do….” we are still saving lives by choosing to extend lockdown. It means that the idiots on the beach may not be infecting people, but their idiocy is the pressure that forces relaxation and that leads to more deaths.
And now back to 4 years ago – the sixth day of my USA road trip. This day took me from Ten Sleep to Rapid City. I should say that one of my habits is to find places to stay mid-way between attractions – hotels are cheaper and you often find some unknown local attraction near the hotel.
As I said yesterday coffee was important to me on this trip – I managed to find a number of small local coffee shops that provided good coffee. One was in Ten Sleep – a shop calle Dity Sally’s.
I had a really pleasant start to the day chatting about coffee with the owner. They had imported their coffee machine from Italy. The coffee was fantastic. As I left the town the road started climbing, and it felt like it was climbing forever. The scenery was gorgeous.
Finally I reached the top of the pass. Just think of the weather we are having today. Warm! At the peak I took this photo to show that the snow was still on the ground at the side of the road.
On the other side I popped in to a small town to prove to a friend I had been to his home town.
It was on the way north toward the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Custer’s last stand). Just south of the memorial there is a small place worth visiting called Garryowen. This is actually where the battle started.
The site of the battle is interesting. Yes there is a large graveyard, but there are also gravestones where people fell and died.
Remember what this looks like – there will be more about this tomorrow – and there may be a test. One thing that is interesting is the term used on several white gravestones “An american soldier”. This suggests that the savages they were fighting were not american. You could draw a comparison with the racism that has led to the recent problems in the USA.
After this there was a long drive to somewhere I really wanted to see, and I was really pleased when I got there – it is an unbelievable site – Devil’s Tower. As you drive toward it it really stands out.
You might recognize it as the hill in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or the end of the film Paul. Close up it is even more impressive.
There are actually one or two people climbing this face in the photo, so that might give you a sense of scale (you can’t see them).
After this I drove on to Rapid City – and I can hardly remember anything about it.