Back to normal is still a long way off

Western countries did not use the ample time they had to put a similar system in place. They didn’t even stock up on masks, ventilators and protective clothing. They let the infection spread so widely that only a long, full lockdown could contain it. Why? Arrogance, wishful thinking, and a fierce determination not to harm economic growth.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseaeases, actually said on March 29 'looking at what we’re seeing now, I would say between 100,000 and 200,000 … deaths,' but let’s stick with the lowball figure, writes Gwynne Dyer. Photograp courtesy of Flickr

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

April 13, 2020

LONDON, U.K.—It’s wrong to say that there is no exit strategy from the anti-coronavirus lockdowns that have proliferated across the world. There is, and the first phase is to keep the lockdowns going long enough to bring new COVID-19 infections down to a manageable number. Maybe by June. Then y...

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