The COVID pandemic and the search for solutions has been the dominant item in the news for most of the 2020 and 2021 but not all of the approaches are sensible.
The best and most used approaches are the several types of vaccines that are now available based on scientific research, isolating when you have COVID or may have been in contact with someone who had it and recording your visits so that COVID-tracing officials can see where you and others have been if there is a breakout.
As with any problem, there can be stupid and dangerous solutions as well as people promoting false solutions and conspiracies. A number of people have been harmed and some have died from this. An Australian ex-celebrity was fined for promoting a machine that could use lights to stop the virus.
There have also been some well-intentioned though probably silly approaches, as well. The initial idea of no cheering at the Japan Olympics has been bypassed by having no crowds at all. The Seoul government has banned gyms from having music at over 120 beats a minute or treadmills going above 6km/hr so that people won’t sweat. A far better answer may have been to actually close the gyms for a while.
We must all work together on sensible, scientific approaches to do the right thing by the whole community.
Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia
