The objective of the lockdown is not to prevent the epidemic but to control its spread at a pace the healthcare systems can cope with. It will not achieve the planned delay in the peak period if we do not maintain high levels of social distancing and an OCD level of hand hygiene throughout the next 6 months at least.
I agree with most of what is stated in the letter. Maintaining the hard lockdown as is now, is a non viable and unrealistic option which will undoubtedly cause more harm on the long run for all the reasons detailed in the letter. A careful ease of the lockdown will unavoidably cause a slower increase in the number of cases with which our systems will most likely not cope but will not cause too much harm. A brutal lift of the lockdown will put us on the same track as Italy and Spain and our healthcare professionals will be hit hard causing the system to collapse.
They didn’t ask for a brutal lift of the lockdown but to ease it so that economy can be saved, healthcare for non-covid19 patients could be rendered a bit earlier to prevent serious complications and avoidable deaths.
I want to go a step further and suggest a more tailored solution where lockdowns are adjusted to the situation in a particular town, sub-district or district but that would mean we leave the decision in the hands of people I don’t have too much faith in, unless local authorities receive considerable support from the National level.
