A chara, – A group of academics and a human rights lawyer have had their say on the proposed Covid inquiry (Letters, September 27th). Their position on the potential role of economic analysis in such an inquiry is instructive and worthy of further consideration. They are quite right to say that costs and benefits must be considered as part of any such inquiry. It seems a little unsavoury to measure the “costs” of dying, going to hospital and getting sick but such “costs” can be measured by economists and it is imperative that these costs be measured and that they be measured against the costs of restrictions.
Of course, the costs of restrictions do not comprise economic costs only. Many health services were entirely shut down during peak surges of the pandemic, including many cancer services. The costs associated with these closures, including lower survival rates for detectable diseases, must be part of any reckoning. The level of excess deaths in Ireland since the end of the pandemic has been well above average and has been consistently among the worst in the EU, according to reports from Eurostat.
It is therefore crucially important that excess deaths since the pandemic ended come within the terms of reference of any inquiry. Focussing on death rates during the pandemic only would not give us the full picture. – Yours, etc,
REAMONN O’LUAN,
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Churchtown,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – Data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) show excess deaths in the UK at 36,316 so far this year. That’s 36,316 extra deaths in the UK so far in 2023 more than would be expected taking the average from the years preceding Covid. The deaths are predominantly non-Covid deaths. Similar outcomes appear in Ireland, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, New Zealand, and the US. This is science. If governments were following the science, there would be an urgency to discover the cause or causes of these excess deaths. If the mainstream media were doing their job, they would be demanding an answer to excess deaths which are occurring around the world. They are now following the silence! – Yours, etc,
LOUIS SHAWCROSS,
Hillsborough,
Co Down.