Nature Abhors A Vacuum
November 4th 2021. A New Zealand person is found dead in their home by a family member. With a positive Covid test they were told to isolate at home, presumably until such time as they either survived or needed hospitalisation.
Aside from the tragedy of this sad and lonely death, this story is troubling on other levels.
The initial media story was perfunctory. Later stories provided more detail, as if to assure us that full medical over-sight had been provided.
The question in my mind was, could this person have been spared this fate? If they had been given access to primary care with their doctor who knew their health profile and perhaps given anti-viral medications that reduce both severity and duration of the illness, would there have been a different outcome?
In banning other medical interventions, bar the jab, has Government policy contributed to this death and others? I wonder if the Coroner will ask that question. And if the Coroner can't ask that question, will the media?
Clearly this would be an awkward question for many New Zealand journalists to ask, especially if we consider the $55m of tax payer's money recently handed over to prop up our failing media. Does this account for the seeming incuriosity and apparent inability to ask hard questions at press briefings? So much for the independent Fourth Estate and their role as pillar holding up democracy. No, New Zealand only has "accredited media" according to Jacinda Ardern, and they're there to receive daily talking points, not ask tough questions.
Since nature abhors a vacuum, and given the servile demeanour of New Zealand's legacy media, citizen writers need to fill the void.
So, why exactly are New Zealanders being denied early medical intervention with a positive Covid diagnosis? Other countries, from some states in the US to India, Peru and Indonesia are using antivirals and/or monoclonal antibodies that reduce the severity and duration of illness.
I put my doctor on the spot with this very question, right after asking her if having the jab would stop me from getting or from transmitting the virus? She was hesitant to answer that question but since she's not allowed to lie to me she eventually responded with a “no”.
I asked her to name other illnesses where patients are denied effective primary care and medication until such time as they require hospitalisation (at which point they're well progressed in the illness with increased chance of dying)? That question she declined to answer; looking uneasy.
The simple truth is that our Government has chosen a simplistic approach to managing Covid. It's called Lock-N-Vax, which is the strategy they adopted early on in 2020 when we knew little about this virus. Almost two years later and things have moved on in the world, but instead of learning from other countries and using everything possible to manage this virus, our Government seems slow to adapt or even level with the people of New Zealand.
And why should they? It's not like the media will suddenly rediscover how to be investigative journalists. They won't even ask the hard questions.