TOO MANY QUESTIONS

 

As of at the end of January 14th there were 3,256 reported COVID 19 deaths in Trinidad & Tobago. This figure suggests that far from doing a good job in fighting the pandemic, the Government is failing miserably. But (and it is a big "but") the question arises: how many of those deaths were COVID related as opposed to the victims dying from some other comorbidity? In other words, were all these 3,256 deaths caused exclusively by COVID or did the victims suffer from something else that actually killed them, e.g., heart disease, but they had tested positive for COVID?

I have no evidence that this is the case, but rather suspect that this suspicion is accurate. Assuming (though not accepting) that the suspicion is correct that they were not killed by the virus, the next question that arises is why would the Government authority lie? Because it is a lie. If a person is killed by a heart attack but tests positive for COVID that is very different from somebody being killed by the virus. So? Then the next question (whether the suspicion is accurate or not) is how many reported deaths from COVID also include comorbidities (such as heart disease)? And what is the true figure on COVID deaths (i.e., deaths caused by COVID)?

I can come up with half a dozen or more reasons why the authorities (let's not say the Government who is being fed the information by their authorities) would lie about this, but any or all of them would be very true or very inaccurate (take your pick). But it is clear that we are simply not getting a full picture. Why not? And who would be ultimately responsible for this? Because somebody has to be responsible for this.

Everybody has his/her own biases, but these questions deserve answers one way or the other. It is not good enough simply to accuse the questions of demonstrating bias, but it is necessary in a properly functioning democracy to answer them. Failure to do so invariably leads to what I call "not a damn dog bark" syndrome. Democracy cannot flourish when the hard (as well as the easy) questions are not answered. And the continuing failure by our leaders in Government not to answer them directly or to answer with (rather obvious) obfuscations simply causes most unnecessary distrust. And that ain't good for anybody. The truth will come out sooner or later. And it is clear that we are not being told the truth. And if we are being lied to, when will we know when a statement is true?