Djokovic and Covid Testing

The media have whipped up a moral storm over the fact that Tennis player, Novak Djokovic, has been given dispensation to play in the Australian Open, despite not having confirmed that he is fully vaccinated.  Indeed, Djokovic has previously openly stated his scepticism over vaccinations.  At least one member of the media has encouraged spectators to boo Djokovic when he comes on to court, which resembles those politicians who last year supported those bigots who booed black football players who took the knee.  But, opposition to Djokovic is idiotic, as is all of the current vogue for testing, which is now not just pointless, but actually damaging.

The truth is no one knows Djokovic's vaccination status, apart from him, and some of the officials he has spoken to.  Moreover, he may not require vaccination if he has natural immunity and so on.  But, all of that is, in any case totally irrelevant.  Let us assume that he is not vaccinated, and has no natural immunity.  The main person then at risk from Covid is Djokovic himself and no one else.  If he is happy to take that risk, and given that he is a young, fit, and apparently healthy (health and fitness not at all being the same thing, because you can be an Olympic runner and still suffer with asthma, for example) athlete, why would he not be happy to take that risk, given that Covid is a virus that almost exclusively affects the elderly and immuno-compromised, then that is his concern, and no one else's.

Indeed, given that he is a wealthy and affluent individual, even were he to become ill, after infection, he has the resources to pay for any required healthcare.  There is an argument for saying that anyone who refuses to get vaccinated, and subsequently requires hospital treatment should pay for it, in the same way that hospitals charge insurance companies for people treated for injuries suffered in road traffic accidents, and so on.

The other argument used in such cases is what about anyone that he might in turn infect, but that is a non sequitur.  The answer to that is that its up to those who might in turn be infected to make the same judgement, i.e. to get jabbed so as to protect themselves against illness, or else to take the risk of being ill.  It is not Djokovic's responsibility to protect them, by being jabbed himself.

The associated argument being made is the requirement for him to be tested before being allowed to play, and that comes at a time when even more intensive and extensive testing is being proposed, in general, as the latest gimmick.  But, the reality is that testing has never been a means of dealing with the pandemic over the long-term, and is even less so now.  It has gone from being pointless, to being, now, actually damaging.

Testing could only be a very short term measure in conditions where very few people were infected, and where those individuals could be identified and physically separated from the herd to prevent any wider infection.  The conditions under which that was possible were very limited, and even in those countries that were able to employ that method, in South Korea, New Zealand etc., it inevitably broke down, and infections increased to a level where it was no longer containable.  In conditions where infections are widespread and infection rates are high, its impossible to identify all those infected, even with widespread daily testing.  Someone tested negative in the morning may be infected by the afternoon.  That is without considering the unreliable nature of the tests themselves.

But, in any case what is the point of the test?  If you need to test someone just to see whether they are infected, what is the point of that?  If someone is actually seriously ill, there is a point in testing to see what they are ill with, so as to treat it appropriately, but that accounts for a tiny proportion of the tests actually being undertaken, the vast majority being routine tests, simply because someone has been pinged, or requires a negative test to go into a place of work, to go on holiday, to go into an entertainment venue, and so on.  No wonder testing kits have run out, in many places, with that level of pointless testing.

Talking to me TESCO delivery driver, this morning, he was telling me of the number of them that are away from work, simply because of being pinged.  That is a point I made the other day.  Of all those that have had to stay away from work, only a small number, he said, actually tested positive, subsequently, and of those that had tested positive, very few had even any symptoms, let alone suffered any significant illness.  Yet, all of these workers are being unnecessarily prevented rom working.  The food store Iceland, now has about 12% of its workers now absent for this same reason.

As I said the other day, this is sheer lunacy.  It means that increasing numbers of workers will be unnecessarily prevented from working with a consequent effect on production an distribution of goods and services, including essential goods and services such as water, energy, sewage, food supply, medical supplies, not to mention healthcare, ambulance services, fire services and so on.  Yet, the government, whilst it has modestly relaxed the idiotic rules on self-isolation, at the same time, is proposing even more intensive and extensive testing of workers in vital services.  The consequence of that can only be that even more workers who are not actually ill, are then prevented from working, hastening the prospect that society grinds to a halt, which will have far more dire consequences for health and mortality than COVID was ever likely to bring with it.

The test should be, are you ill?  If not, then there is no reason to be away from work.  The same is true with Starmer, who is now self-isolating for about the sixth time,, and only this time, because he has apparently tested positive.  Much as his removal from his position would be welcome given his uselessness, and divisiveness, as he appeases the nationalist bigots of the Right, making Labour look and feel more like the BNP, rather than an internationalist social-democratic party, this is not the way to do it.  Its time to scrap the NHS pinging app, white elephant, to end all of the unnecessary testing, and end the isolation requirements.  The focus should be exclusively on ensuring that those at risk get fully jabbed, in the same way we do each year with flu.  End of story.