Rita Panahi: Human cost of pandemic goes much further than virus
Whether you are pro or anti-lockdown the grim, unintended consequences of the fixation on coronavirus are undeniable, as other diseases — including cancer and heart disease — go unchecked, and despair from joblessness, poverty and financial stress rises, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rita Panahi. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The singular focus on coronavirus will lead to many more deaths from cancer, heart disease, suicide and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, according to a growing number of medical experts.
We hear daily reports in Victoria, and much of the world, about every COVID-19 death, but what isn’t publicised are the deaths from other infectious diseases, illnesses and the despair that comes with joblessness, poverty and financial stress.
Fears that the cure will be worse than the disease are more salient than ever, as are debates among experts about whether the methods employed to fight the COVID-19 scourge have been fundamentally flawed.
Among the most well-credentialed voices questioning the wisdom of harsh lockdowns is Nobel prize winning scientist Michael Levitt, who has criticised Australia for failing to gain any herd immunity while simultaneously destroying its economy and interrupting children’s education.
The professor of structural biology at Stanford University believes lockdowns are “crude” and has been critical of epidemiologists indulging in exaggeration. “I think it may have cost lives,” he said. “It will have saved a few road accident lives, things like that, but social damage — domestic abuse, divorces, alcoholism –— has been extreme.”
Prof Levitt points out that many are failing to seek treatment for other conditions. “So how many cancers were we exacerbating? How many strokes happened? Suicides, for example, have increased dramatically in certain locations, along with marital abuse, child abuse and addiction. Tobacco use has increased substantially, and that is going to end up killing people.”
Another leading expert, Beda M. Stadler, has questioned why policies were created on the back of hopelessly inaccurate modelling and speculation based on “gut feeling”, not science. The renowned biologist and immunologist has been scathing of public health officials creating policy on the run. He advocates for strategies to protect at-risk over-65s without the imposition of draconian measures or lockdowns.
Whether you are pro or anti lockdown, one must acknowledge the grim unintended consequences, and they go much further than social and economic devastation.
Last week the New York Times reported that “lockdown measures could result in an additional 6.3 million cases of TB and 1.4 million deaths” plus a disastrous impact on HIV and malaria programs. The director of the World Health Organization’s global malaria program, Dr. Pedro L. Alonso said: “COVID-19 risks derailing all our efforts and taking us back to where we were 20 years ago.”
In the UK it is estimated that three million people have missed tests, treatments and cancer screenings during a four-month period. Medical experts fear that could lead to an additional 35,000 cancer deaths.
Says oncologist Prof Karol Sikora: “We’ve been spending too much time obsessed by COVID deaths and not enough trying to get our health system back to business as usual to avoid other deaths. We should not underestimate the collateral damage of this lockdown ... as the weeks go by, mental health deteriorates further, more cancer goes undiagnosed and deprivation spreads. This costs lives too.”
In Australia, during the first lockdown we saw a massive backlog develop for breast cancer screenings.
In Victoria the situation is particularly concerning, as people heed the official advice to “stay home, save lives”. For some, that advice could lead to an early death if they fail to present with early symptoms of conditions such as heart disease, stroke and cancer.
There has been a significant drop in the number of blood tests to detect prostate cancer.
“We are alarmed that thousands of Australian men are foregoing, or completely avoiding in some cases, recommended tests to monitor and treat prostate cancer,” said Prof Jeff Dunn from the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Those delays in prognosis and early treatment can have deadly consequences with thousands dying prematurely from treatable conditions.
Chair of the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Network, Prof Grant McArthur, has warned that of a “30 per cent reduction in reporting of cancers since lockdown began” and if that trend continues for a six-month period, it would mean more than 3000 delayed cancer cases in Victoria.
Cancer is the biggest killer in Australia, with around 50,000 deaths in 2019 alone. More must be done to ensure people with symptoms present early to prevent unnecessary suffering and deaths.
It is vital that the community know the full human cost of this pandemic.
IN SHORT: It’s hard to dismiss Richmond’s groping scandal as ‘locker room antics’ when the victim Mabior Chol appeared to be so uncomfortable by the sordid shenanigans. The power imbalance made the incident all the more ugly given Chol is the new kid on the block and would want to avoid upsetting senior teammates by making a fuss. It was tawdry but it wasn’t racially motivated. Jack Riewoldt got similarly handsy with one of Chol’s gropers, Jayden Short, last week. Perhaps this is a bizarre game of tag for the Tigers. For the image-obsessed AFL, it’s been an absolute shocker.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist