Steve Hilton: End the shutdown and save lives now

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1. The Wikipedia article describes an epidemiology remarkably similar to that of COVID-19. It originated in China, and was called the “Asian flu.” It began in December or January of 1956 in the Chinese province of Hangchchow, then gradually spread to the whole world, including the United States, in the course of 1957. The infection rate began to taper off some 8 months after onset following the development of a vaccine. But the vaccine did not prove to be a cure-all. Infections slowly decreased over many years, but the virus did not disappear completely until twenty years later.

   It is believed that the flu, also known as the “avian flu” began when in geese and then spread to humans.

   COVID-19 walks like a new flu strain, and talks like a new flu strain. So maybe it is a new strain of flu.

   What if the whole world economy had been shut down by government and United Nations bureaucrats in 1957. What would our standard of living and life expectancy be today? How many people would have, did, not just of the flu, but from “complications” of a 20-year-long world depression? Would the whole world have “gone communist.?” Thank God that the world’s governments, including the Eisenhower administration here in the United States, did nothing about it.

2. The disease was estimated to have a 3% rate of complications and 0.3% mortality in the United Kingdom;[3] it could cause pneumonia by itself, without the presence of secondary bacterial infection. It may have infected as many or more people than the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, but the vaccine, improved health care, and the invention of antibiotics contributed to a lower mortality rate.[1] Overall, the pandemic caused 1 to 2 million deaths worldwide[2] or 2 to 4 million.[1] The CDC estimates 1.1 million deaths worldwide.[12] According to a study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, the highest excess mortality occurred in Latin America.[13] About 70,000[1][11] to 116,000 people died in the United States.[14] In early 1958, it was estimated that 14,000 people had already died of the flu in the United Kingdom of the 9 million who became sick.[3] It caused many infections in children, spreading in schools and leading to many school closures, but was rarely fatal in children. The virus was most deadly in pregnant women, the elderly, and those with pre-existing heart and lung disease.[1] According to research by Barbara Sands, some of the excess mortality attributed to the Great Leap Forward in Maoist China may have actually been caused by the 1957 flu.[15]
   Economic effects[edit]
   The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 15% of its value in the second half of 1957.[14] In the United Kingdom, the government paid out £10 000 000 in sickness benefit and some factories and mines had to close.[3] Many schools had to close in Ireland, including 17 in Dublin.[16]” From the Wikipedia article about the 1957 pandemic. Note that t governments did little about it. There was no shutdown. Life went on.

3. The BBC history page “On This Day” (Jan.6) describes the appalling flu season of 1999-2000. Hospitals were overwhelmed. A severe shortage of hospital beds and nurses throughout the UK and in 19 U.S. states. A horrendous death toll, especially among the elderly and nursing home residents. Yet no government named it as an “epidemic” let alone a pandemic.

   My mother had Alzheimer’s disease and was living in a nursing home at the time. She did get very ill with a respiratory disease, and nearly died. The nursing home did absolutely nothing for her except place her in complete isolation for weeks. I took her to an infectious disease specialist outside the nursing home over the protests of the nursing home director and the staff doctor. As best I can recollect, he did nothing for her either. NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT AN EPIDEMIC, LET ALONE A PANDEMIC. I watched the news every day on TV, but there was no reference to it. The only topic of interest was Monica Lewinsky and the impeachment of Clinton.

   Eventually the staff doctor conceded that Mom had pneumonia. Amazingly, she recovered on her own with no help whatsoever from the nursing home staff. I finally succeeded in moving her to a much better nursing home, although the paperwork and bureacracy was incredible. The process took several months. Amazingly, my Mom was a real fighter, and survived another foor years in a better nursing home with a much better staff doctor.

   in 2000, no one did anything about a pandemic or even named it. In 2020, they forced the entire population into isolation and destroyed the world economy. Go figure.

4. “2000: Flu outbreak stretches NHS resources
   Hospitals around the UK are feeling the strain of the current flu outbreak even though it has not been classed as an epidemic.
   In Scotland latest figures show that the number of people with a flu-like illness has doubled. A similar increase is predicted in England and Wales.

   In Liverpool hospitals have cancelled all non-emergency surgery to try and cope with a shortage of beds.

   Some patients have had to stay overnight on trolleys while they wait for treatment.

   In London all the capital’s 275 intensive-care beds are full.

   Poor uptake of flu vaccine

   Health experts also say that the outbreak has been made worse by the fact that vulnerable people such as the elderly have not been vaccinated.

   The Public Health Laboratory Service said the uptake was not what it should be in the high-risk groups.

   The crisis offers an easy target for opposition politicians seeking to explode Labour’s jubilant post-election promises of radical NHS reform.

   Nineteen US states and several European countries are currently stretching their medical capacities to the limit as flu epidemics take hold.

   Royal College of Nursing general-secretary Christine Hancock told the BBC that the problem lay not in a shortage of actual beds, but in hospitals having too few nurses to accompany them.

   But Sir Alan Langlands, chief executive of the NHS, said he was confident people were getting the right care.

   He said: “Anyone who will benefit from intensive care is getting that care from the health service.”

   Two nurses at the bedside of an elderly patient
   A nurse attends to a flu patient at Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary

   In Context
   A few days later, Professor Liam Donaldson, the government’s chief medical officer, made controversial claims that the UK was experiencing its first flu epidemic for a decade, despite the fact that statistics suggested the outbreak was only halfway towards reaching epidemic status.
   The huge influx of patients coupled with staff sickness left many hospitals struggling not only to tend the living, but even to store the dead. At some hospitals, refrigerated lorries were used as temporary mortuaries as existing facilities were overwhelmed.

   The knock-on effects were immense. Most trusts started to cancel routine planned surgery and thousands of patients were affected.

   The government blamed the problem on what they said was the worst flu outbreak for a decade. But the opposition said it was exaggerating the effects of the current flu outbreak to cover up the failings of its health policies.

   Flu facts
   What is an epidemic? When 400 in every 100,000 people have the virus.
   Who is at risk? The elderly, the very young and those with respiratory problems.
   How do I know I’ve got it? Look out for high temperature, shivers, muscle and joint pain, deep cough causing restricted breathing.
   How do I treat it? Lower the temperature with paracetamol, increase fluid intake, complete rest for a few days.” This is from a BBC historical review page entitled “On This day.” What I find fascinating about this is that no one in authority even declared this to be an “epidemic,” or let alone a “pandemic.” Yet hospitals in the UK and in 19 American states were just as overwhelmed and as short of beds and hospital staff as in the present so-called “pandemic.”