Rationality Vanishes in a Viral Fog

There are many unknowns and uncertainties about the current viral pandemic, with most definitive answers are still for the future. Some questions have been with us for months. Do total lockdowns achieve anything? Do masks work? Why do some countries have so many deaths while others see relatively few? Other questions are more current. Is it over? Is there a second wave? If so, why are there so few associated deaths, relatively speaking?

Much of the information we are given is difficult, even impossible, to evaluate. For instance, in recent weeks Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been daily announcing the number of new COVID-19 deaths, almost all invariably elderly people in aged-care facilities. When there is a death in a younger age group, much is made of it. Further investigation, as with the recent man in his twenties who was announced as a COVID victim, stronly suggests co-morbidities at work. In that particular case, according to The Age, the victim may well have died of…