Causes of Death
© Our World in Data Org

To date, the GLOBAL death toll from COVID-19 stands at around 17,000, with experts still unsure how many of those victims would have succumb to their 'underlying health conditions' anyway, even if they weren't infected with the respiratory disease.


That number of 17,000 is of course going to rise, but even if we surpass figures of 250,000 or even 500,000, the death toll still needs to be kept in perspective.

Governments around the world are trigger-happily removing peoples social liberties, as well as universally sabotaging the global economy. After studying the below chart from the IMHE & Global Burden of Disease, the question on my lips is why...?


Road Injuries killed 1.24 million globally in 2017 — so why hasn't transport been restricted to 'essential journeys only'...? Why haven't stricter testing measure been introduced...? Why aren't drivers over the age of 80 having their licenses revoked-as they're the group with the highest rates of driver deaths...?

Homicides killed 405,000 people in 2017 — so why haven't lockdowns/curfews been enforced to try and lower that figure...?

Alcohol killed some 185,000 — why haven't bars been closed, and supermarkets banned from selling the stuff...?

And the top spot, Cardiovascular Disease killed a staggering 18 million in 2017 — so why hasn't obesity been tackled by shutting down fast-food restaurants, why hasn't smoking been banned (the top two contributors to the illness)...?

Of course, I'm in no way calling for the above draconian measures to be introduced, but I'm no fan of them being enforced for COVID-19 either. They appear wildly out of proportion given the risk the disease poses the "average healthy" member of the public-the latest data on that suggesting that only 1.3% of those infected who are otherwise healthy individuals become moderately-to-seriously ill, with an even smaller percentage of them going on the require critical care, and fewer-still going on to die.

There is no doubt these "social distancing" measures are overblown, but, to me at least, they serve as two depressing indicators: 1) That health services around the world are wholly-unprepared for even a small influx of patients. And 2) that these lock-downs are a show of power to an ever-rebellious and revolution-ready global population.

Saying that, there is understandable fear over the Coronavirus — it is still a relatively unknown disease. But the more information we're managing to gather -particularly as the infection spreads to the more transparent West- the less reason we have to fear it.

COVID-19 is proving far less deadly than past pandemics, and unlike the Spanish Flu, for example -which disproportionately attacked young, healthy individuals- this illness is currently only affecting those who are elderly and/or already sick. Therefore, any defensive measures introduced by governments should hinge on protecting those two groups and those two groups alone, instead of the widespread draconian muscle flexing we're witnessing.

Let's not let fear drive us into signing away our social liberties, because who knows how easy it will be to get them all back...