OPINION: Declan Hasson - Is the cure worse than the problem and are some more equal than others?

The idea that a fair portion of society should be subjected to a form of house imprisonment for an inordinate length of time, seemed so alien. But this was only the start of the ‘lockdown’ nightmare.

Since then, many of our freedoms have been extinguished. With public support, governments across the globe have adopted the most extreme and indiscriminate of measures. In Spain, it was illegal to take your child for a walk - but strangely, you could take your dog for its walk. In Italy and France you needed a permit to leave your home – just for a mouthful of fresh air.

There are lists upon lists of things you can no longer do. And worst of all, Governments have set about abolishing most forms of human socialisation, the bedrock of society.

Already this is leading to unimaginable distress. Consider the plight of families living in cramped and overcrowded accommodation, caring for a disabled child or adult, being effectively confined to their own four walls.

On a recent BBC “Coronavirus - Questions Answered” session, a doctor was asked by a caller if she could take her mother, who has Alzheimer’s out for her daily trip to a parking area overlooking the ocean. The caller was in distress because the daily trip was vital therapy for her mother. The doctor responded that she should not go, but instead do things at home like ‘memory box’ stuff, going through old family photos. When it comes to the vulnerable, they seem not to be a priority in this crisis. Equality in our society is now a case of “some are more equal than others.”

In one week alone, over one million people signed up for Universal Credit and according to The Institute for Fiscal Studies, it is the young and low-paid workers who are the biggest losers in this economic shutdown.

We are being told that the strategy to deal with this pandemic is ‘to follow the science’. According to Lord Jonathan Sumption, the former Supreme Court Judge, historian and author, the scientific approach has ‘obvious’ limitations.

“Scientists can help us assess the clinical consequences of different ways to contain the virus,” he says, “but they are no more qualified than the rest of us to say whether they are worth turning our world upside down and inflicting serious long – term damage.”

In a sign that Italy has become exhausted with the ‘lockdown’, its prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, acknowledged in a recent interview that: “soon we may just all have to learn to live with this virus.”