Deaths
It is expected that tomorrow the government will announce a slight easing of the restrictions. Some have greeted the prospect with hysteria
The Office of National Statistics has, at the time of writing, recorded 33,021 people dying with covid-19 in the UK. What is not clear is how many of those 33,021 would have died this year anyway. To what extent has covid-19 actually increased the expected number of deaths?
It is expected that tomorrow the government will announce a slight easing of the restrictions. Some have greeted the prospect with hysteria. The stay home, stay safe mantra has certainly worked very well, probably too well, and for some the idea of venturing out terrifies them. We all need to take a moment to step back and consider the facts.
Useful data has been produced by Statista, which has collated details of covid related deaths by country per million inhabitants. As with all statistics one needs to approach the data with caution. To quote Statista;
This table aims to provide a complete picture on the topic, but it very much relies on data that has become more difficult to compare. As the coronavirus pandemic developed across the world, countries already used different methods to count fatalities, and they sometimes changed them during the course of the pandemic.
However, the UK is fourth on that table, with 460.45 deaths per million, a tiny proportion of the population. Contrast that with Sweden, lying 3 places below the UK in seventh. Sweden has been the exception in Europe and has not imposed anything like the drastic restrictions seen in the UK, and yet their death rate is 298.53 per million.
Why is it that Sweden, with its relaxed approach, has seen fewer deaths than the UK, Spain and Italy, where the populace in each of those countries was ordered to stay at home? Do the statistics suggest the lockdown has been a complete waste of time? Is the government propelling the economy into the worst depression for 300 years for no good reason?
We have to hope that when Boris Johnson speaks tomorrow he explains the thinking behind the decision to extend the lockdown, and why he thinks covid-19 remains a greater threat to the well being of country than the destruction of the economy.
8th May 2020