A War around Compassion?

Dear META-Health friend,
our latest META-Healthy.Life online magazine got the name “Breath – the Source of Life“.
This was before Corona.
Now, we learned that breath can be the source of death, too.
Or do we?

Governments in many countries urge their citizens to protect themselves and others by social distancing and by wearing face masks. We are to consider ourselves and our breath a potential threat to our loved ones. Doubts and non-compliance with the rules and recommendations is portrayed as egoistic and uncompassionate, while politicians who demand harder restrictions are applauded by the masses.
There is a war to be won!
Or is it?

A war is never won.

It always leads to “collateral damage” which can even be so harmful that the cause (here: the saving of lives) is flipped. That’s hard to swallow but that’s what the evidence is showing.

We became aware of the petition internationally renown researchers have published, starting a wave of support by thousands of scientists, therapists, and citizens around the world:

The Great Barrington Declaration

As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection.

Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.

Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.

Fortunately, our understanding of the virus is growing. We know that vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.

As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity.

The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk. We call this Focused Protection.

Even the World Health Organisation recognizes this declaration.

As a META-Health® professional we may not agree with every single point made in it; but the main message is “we can avoid the destruction of lives, and handle this better by returning to a normal, free life.”
This we can sign and share full-heartedly!

So we encourage you to sign and to share it in your networks, too, so that it may come to awareness in all the peoples and governments:

It is compassionate to be self-responsible for our health.
It is compassionate to recognize the human needs of close contact and participation.
It is compassionate to take the Meta-perspective!

Learn more about the reasoning behind focused protection: