COVID-19 – Collateral Damage

by | Dec 31, 2020 | Pandemic | 0 comments

We’ve all heard the daily death tolls from the so-called deadly virus, but rarely will you hear about the death toll and suffering caused by the pandemic reaction.

From the very beginning, many feared that the reaction to the pandemic would be far more deadly than the virus itself, and unfortunately our fears were justified.

I want to bring attention to this fact clearly and accurately in this article, so please share this far and wide to as many people as possible. This fiasco has to end, and it has to end now.

The Elderly

The elderly have by far suffered the most throughout this pandemic so far, right from the get-go they have been the ones feeling the brunt of actions taken by the state and their assigned health authorities.

Between 2 March and 12 June this year 28,186 “excess deaths” were recorded in care homes in England, with over 18,500 care home residents confirmed to have died with COVID-19 during this period. – Amnesty International[1]

Thats 28,186 more elderly dead than what is usually expected within that timeframe. Officially 28,186 of these have been attributed to COVID-19, but in reality many of these alleged COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented or were not COVID-19 deaths at all.

Kate Allen the director of Amnesty International UK said in a statement:

“The Government made a series of shockingly irresponsible decisions which abandoned care home residents to die. … The appalling death toll was entirely avoidable – it is a scandal of monumental proportions.” – Amnesty International[1]

And she is right, it was shocking irresponsible, they were abandoned to die and it was entirely avoidable. A scandal of monumental proportions is an understatement.

Some would argue that this is evidence of just how deadly SARS-COV-2 is for the elderly, but that is not why almost 30,000 died in care homes in just a few weeks.

We have had highly contagious and dangerous strains of influenza sweep the nation many a time. Viruses are nothing new. What was new though was the hysterical and irrational reactions from Government, not just here in the UK, but all over the World.

Care homes in the UK have been suffering from severe staff shortages for years, as they try to squeeze a little more profit out of every new patient.

Elderly and vulnerable people in care homes are being denied trips to the toilet and are kept indoors for days because of severe staff shortages, say care home workers. – Care Homes[2]

The findings from the investigation by UNISON brought to light many shocking discoveries, including a shortage of PPE, the reusing of incontinence pads, no time for staff to feed patients, no time for staff to assist in patient toilet trips, no time to spend time with patients, broken wheelchairs – the list goes on.

Care Homes are less equipped and staffed than prisons.

We literally look after criminals better than the elderly. So the staff was reduced even further due to COVID infection fears, reduced PPE supplies and then the final nail in the coffin – send infected patients from hospitals into care homes. Are we surprised so many died?

Think about it, we are talking about people at their most fragile state, in a care home system which is in an equally fragile state – then, COVID!!! – The World goes into panic, staff no longer turn up to work, television tells everyone they are going to die. There are critics out there that believe more than the recorded 30,000 died from COVID-19.

However, I’d argue that none or at least very few of these people died from COVID-19, they were victim to the incompetence of others.

Finally, there are the ‘Do Not Resuscitate'(DNR) orders which were placed onto just about all those in care homes.

Care homes were told to introduce blanket “do not resuscitate” (DNR) orders for all residents at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report.

A survey of 128 care home managers and nurses by the Queen’s Nursing Institute charity found that one in ten of the institutions was ordered by NHS bosses to introduce DNRs without permission from the residents, family members or fellow staff, in order to free up hospital beds. – The Week[3]

This means that if a patient stops breathing, no attempt will be made to resuscitate them, they will be left to die. 

Rosemary Frei has an M.Sc in molecular biology from a faculty of medicine and was a freelance medical journalist for 22 years. She is now an independent journalist in Canada.

In her recent article, “Were conditions for high death rates at Care Homes created on purpose?”[4] she examines how all the rules and guidelines pertaining to elderly care, death certification and treatment of bodies in Ontario have been changed during this “crisis” in order to increase the numbers reported “dying of COVID.”

In an interview by James Corbett with Rosemary Frei, they discuss the reasons behind these changes and what they tell us about the real nature of this pandemic panic.

But it’s not over for the elderly, tens of thousands of elderly people in care homes are still feeling the effects of the actions enforced by the Government. With visitation rights for loved ones still on hold, they have spent almost a year alone, without any physical contact from their nearest and dearest.

No one to hold their hand, no one to sit with them and read to them. How many more have died scared and alone since this began and as we head into the future?

The Children

The most vulnerable and important section of our society is, without doubt, the children.  Now, we’ve heard right from the get go that children are typically not at risk from COVID-19, in fact, the risk to children under 16 is stated by the CDC as 0%.

But while they may not be at risk from a contagious disease, they are at risk, terrible risk.

To summarize the key findings from a recent NSPCC study[4] into the effects on children during and after the pandemic:

Increase in stressors to parents and caregivers

The research we reviewed confirms that the risk of child abuse is higher when caregivers become overloaded by the stressors in their lives. There are indications that the coronavirus pandemic has increased stressors on caregivers.

Increase in children and young people’s vulnerability

There are indications that the conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic have heightened the vulnerability of children and young people to certain types of abuse, for example online abuse, abuse within the home, criminal exploitation and child sexual exploitation.

Reduction in normal protective services

There is evidence that the ‘normal’ safeguards we rely on to protect children and young people have been reduced during the pandemic. However social connections and social support can provide a protective effect for children’s safety and wellbeing.

Source: nspcc.org[4]

Child abuse increasing throughout these authoritarian lockdowns was inevitable. Society was  fragile before the pandemic began, the cracks were already there. The pandemic was the tipping point, as these shocking new figures released by The Guardian confirm:

We know from recent National Crime Agency (NCA) figures that at least 300,000 people in the UK pose a risk of committing physical or online child abuse, more than double the 140,000 reported last year.

And NCA figures shared exclusively with the Guardian show that during each of the 13 weeks of lockdown, around 350 cases of online child sexual abuse were passed to police, a 10% increase on the same period last year. – The Guardian[5]

Child abuse is just one small sub-section of children affected by the pandemic, but unfortunately it’s only one part of the problem. 

Mental illness in children is on the up, and not just a little:

Prescriptions for sleeping pills for under-18s rose 30% to 186,000 between March and June 2020 compared with two years ago, freedom of information figures show. – The Guardian[5]

And self harming among secondary school-age children is also up:

A charity that offers counselling said reports of safeguarding issues were up 77% among a small sample of secondary schoolchildren, in particular self-harm. – The Guardian[5]

Let us not forget that we are talking about a section of society that are unaffected by the so-called deadly virus, statistics show that under 18’s have virtually a 0% chance of developing COVID-19 from a SARS-COV-2 infection.

But you can be damn sure they are at risk from the Government reaction, their mental health is in decline, their perception of reality has been skewed.

A study back in July raised serious concerns over an increase in child suicides:

A “concerning signal” that child suicides may have increased during the coronavirus lockdown has prompted a warning to doctors and health services to be vigilant.

A national report for NHS England found there had been 25 likely suicides of children during the first 56 days of lockdown in March and April, compared with 26 child suicides in 82 days pre-lockdown.

In almost half of the lockdown-period suicides, or 48 per cent, factors related to Covid-19 or the social restrictions were thought to have contributed. – The Independent[6]

July feels like a lifetime ago, with further lockdowns since, a cumulative toll on children is sure to have been felt. We await further data to see  how this early trend of child-age suicides developed.

Now it’s easy to forget that here in the west, in the developed World, we are a privileged minority. The majority of children live in extreme poverty, so how do you think they are fairing up?

Economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has set back decades of progress against the most severe forms of malnutrition and is likely to kill 168,000 children before any global recovery takes hold, according to a study released Monday by 30 international organizations. – Medical Xpress[7]

Time will tell just how many childrens lives are lost to the reaction by our governments to the pandemic, but it’s clear the death toll will be far higher that the death toll of children due to the virus.

The Vulnerable

Life can be hard, even in the pre-pandemic World we once knew. Whether you are a young single mother, alone, living on the breadline or a middle-aged alcoholic who’s only pleasure comes from sitting out your evenings at your local pub.

There are so many out there in need of love and attention, and while it may never have come easy before 2020, now it has been made virtually impossible.

The survey, conducted by Mind, found that 65 per cent of adult participants with a pre-existing mental health problem said it had become worse during lockdown….

Over half (52 per cent) of people living in social housing said their mental health was poor or very poor, and over two thirds (67 percent) said that their mental health got worse during lockdown. – The Telegraph[8]

Society is being manipulated into anti-social behaviour. No longer do ‘we love thy neighbour’, now it is about keeping an eye on thy neighbour to make sure they are sticking to the rules. With ever-changing rules and restrictions to who we can see, and where we can see them, many have chosen to just keep it simple and concentrate on seeing immediate family.

In the meantime, those with no real family to call on, those who face the daily struggles of their own mind are left to suffer, alone. It’s unforgivable and it must stop, right now.

If someone reaches out to you, and you chose to follow the rules over offering that much needed hand, well, shame on you. You have blood on your hands and nothing will ever wash it off.

Domestic abuse is also on the up globally, with stay at home orders in place throughout much of the World and much of the helplines understaffed and overwhelmed many pleas for help have gone unheard:

Several United Nations’ reports indicate that since the outbreak of the pandemic, empirical research suggests that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified. – Forbes[9]

Looking ahead

But none of these issues just disappear when stay at home orders go away, if they ever do. Even if the pandemic was declared over tomorrow, the collateral damage will continue for years, if not decades.

With unemployment sky rocketing around the World as businesses attempt to trim away their staff in order to stay solvent, millions of people are being forced into relative poverty.

Economic downturn has hit just about every nation around the World:

The economic damage stemming from the lockdowns of March, April and May were felt nearly worldwide. India (-25.2%), the U.K. (-19.8), Mexico (-17.1%), Eurozone (-11.8%) and the U.S. (-9.0%) all experienced severe downturns in real Q2 2020 GDP. – fxcm.com[10]

Unemployment figures for developed nations as of November 2020 vcome in at 7.3%, up 2.5% from last years figures:

According to the IMF, advanced economies experienced a spike in unemployment for 2020. Estimates came in at 7.3%, up 2.5% from 2019 levels (4.8%) – fxcm.com[10]

Unemployment rates for emerging economies:

For 2020, unemployment reached extreme levels in South Africa (37%), Colombia (17.3%), Turkey (14.6%) and the Philippines (10.4%). The year-over-year uptick was substantial across the board, with an 8.3% annual rise in South African unemployment being among the largest. – fxcm.com[10]

And again, this isn’t going to go away if the pandemic is declared over tomorrow, it will get worse. Many businesses have clung on by the skin of their teeth throughout the last year, but ultimately many of these will be destined to close down. I believe we will see unemployment rise more in 2021 than we saw in 2020.

The damage done so far is beyond repair, many will suffer, many will die because of the actions taken by governments all over the World – we cannot change what has been done.

But what we can do is stop this right now and the only way to do that is by civil disobedience. And by this all I really mean is return to living your life and running your businesses like you always have.

Be there for your friends and family when they need you regardless of what Tier you might be in or they might be in.

Stop the insanity, it’s 2021 and if we are not careful, this year will be far more devastating then the last.

Peace, Love & Anarchy

James Allard

James Allard

James has been with OYE NEWS from the start, with extensive knowledge across a wide range of subjects his work is diverse. He is essentially an Anarchist and believes in individual freedom and sovereignty.
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