‘Lockdowns’ as a concept is the key strategic political tool to undermine public health practice, in this…

‘Lockdowns’ as a concept is the key strategic political tool to undermine public health practice, in this pandemic. A few thoughts. Firstly, as the sign says, during ‘lockdowns’ we were at home. Not in prison. In our own space, not in a cell. /1 https://t.co/ZPqq4cKMUf

I don’t know about you, but home is my favourite place in the world, and the place I love going to after a day’s work. I would happily miss work every day of the week if I could afford to. I still find it ludicrous and offensive to have staying home described as oppression. /2

As Orwell said, “we have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty…”. But it goes further. The assumption is that it’s government locking us down. But that’s always been a lie. The virus locked us down. Look at this photo. /3 https://t.co/bs6VBWBkLc

The government didn’t lock these Lismore residents down. The flood did. Governments needed orders for Covid only because a virus is invisible. But far, far more lethal. On average about 13 people a year die in floods in Australia. Covid is mowing that many down…/4 https://t.co/2qFv6Jn2k8

…multiple times every day. Nobody is issuing stay at home orders out of some desire to lock anybody down. The known, dire, social threat of infection historically forced the invention of public health orders to act as the ‘floodwaters’ for pandemics. /5

But to me the greatest mythology around lockdowns is the idea that they ended. If you think it’s governments locking down, that it’s entirely a matter of choice, then you believe we have a choice whether to have lockdowns. But it’s not government locking down. It’s the virus. /6

We could ignore floodwaters, and head out into them. And likely die. But we can at least swim. You can’t float on a virus. If government doesn’t introduce public health orders, the floodwaters of infection don’t stop. This is where it gets really nasty. /7

The worst form of actual imprisonment is solitary confinement. If you let the floodwaters of infection rip, nobody is sand-bagging. You’re on your own. What the public messaging currently says is life without lockdowns, is really a much more sinister form of lockdown. /8 https://t.co/XuOVKQw01A

The virus is flooding every room in every building, every public space, every vehicle. Each individual then has to make the choice, to allow infection or not. And they will usually fail, after enough time. All that keeps society from total collapse is millions of individual…/9

…lockdowns. Shelterings from the virus. Many choose not to do that, and as we’re seeing, many then fall ill, many die, and many take on chronic disease states we barely understand. Economies slow to a crawl, with no staff, and/or workforces unable to function. /10

It’s a lie that lockdowns ended. I’ve Tweeted before, we didn’t end them, we privatised them. We threw millions into various forms of solitary confinement, to escape infection as best they can. The virus is still locking us down, but individually. /11

You can ignore it, but it will then infect you. Repeatedly. You can only keep your head above floodwater for a finite time. The virus is running our countries now, locking everything down. /end https://t.co/txBjevqQTk