Tin Foil Hats

COVID-19, some years later

I was prompted to write this piece by the coincidence of three things.

The most consequential for me was a discussion I had with one of my junior doctors¹ just a few days ago. She worked in India at the peak of the pandemic there, when she herself was signing eighty death certificates a day. With some emotion, she recalled burying many of her professors, and a number of colleagues about her age. She remarked on how many New Zealanders didn’t seem to understand how lightly they got off.

Second, I steeled myself to finally watch the Jacinda Ardern documentary, Prime Minister. I did this with some trepidation, because, five years down the line, some emotions are still raw. A low point was where the tiny minority pictured above—COVID-19 deniers to a woman—ended up starting a conflagration outside the New Zealand Parliament after they’d pitched their tents there for weeks. But not before they had shared their viruses, and then blamed their illness on the government for irradiating them with ‘rays’. Hence the helmets.

Finally, I read on Reuters that anti-vax nutjob² Vinay Prasad is goading the FDA into putting a black box warning on the COVID-19 vaccine. Which reminds me, I need to go and get my booster on Monday.

First, facts

I’ve shown the above image before, and I’ll show it again. It graphs excess deaths around the time of COVID-19. This one graph tells you pretty much everything you need to know.

Countries like the US stuffed up, killing hundreds of thousands of people unnecessarily. Hong Kong and New Zealand initially both did well, but when the vaccines came out, Hong Kong fell to bits. Because older people (in particular) didn’t get adequately vaccinated, they had that massive spike when omicron struck. Properly done, the COVID-19 vaccines clearly work.

And New Zealand shows an added bonus. As the most successful opponent of COVID-19, we also saved other lives by stopping influenza in 2020, which normally kills a few thousand people here pretty much every ‘flu season.

The bottom line is easy. Jacinda Ardern delivered a masterclass in epidemic management, and by co-ordinating her team so well initially, saved about 20,000 Kiwi lives. She also stopped our hospital system from collapsing. Who was ‘her team’? Initially, pretty much everyone in New Zealand.

The movie, then

I’m not going to bang on here. It’s a pretty frank documentary that demonstrates something most ‘world leaders’ can only aspire to: how to lead. Whether it was at the time of COVID-19, or after the White Island volcanic eruption, or above all else, following the massacre of Muslim worshippers by a hate-filled right-wing Australian, Ardern demonstrated evident compassion. She showed us a different, better way to do politics. Lead with honesty and a good heart.³

Some people hate that, and this too tells us pretty everything we need to know about them.

And that’s all I have to say. My 2c, Dr Jo.

1. ‘Junior doctor’ is otherwise a ‘resident medical officer’ (RMO).

2. Some may find this designation of Prasad excessive. I’d point to his publication history and behaviour over the past five years as sufficient evidence, even without the ‘black box’ revelation. It’s also in keeping with the way healthcare in the US is declining: zombification of the CDC, and the recent CDC decisions about hepatitis B vaccination.

3. She also seems to have a preternatural ability to spot true experts, and follow their advice with perfect timing.