Every effort is being made by conservative governments globally to suppress attention to deaths. In the UK…

Every effort is being made by conservative governments globally to suppress attention to deaths. In the UK they're planning to not even report them. Even constant reference to 'cases' and 'hospitalisations', and the seemingly.../1 #auspol #covid19aus https://t.co/90RiPKC00W

...innocuous R number, takes us away from the deeper social and political context of Covid cases. Overwhelmingly the poor and disadvantaged suffer the most from infectious disease outbreaks, worldwide. And categories such as 'endemic' and 'epidemic' do the same. /2

Endemicity is a highly fraught, political concept. ALl statistics are, it's in the name: stat-istics. Invented as an instrument of the State. I'm a fan of the State, this isn't a libertarian jibe, but data is politics. /3

Ultimately pandemics are about basic public health things. Bad air, bad water, bad food, caused by crowding, inattention to basics like income and inequality, hypermobility etc. We forget that too often, in my opinion. 4/4