Progress is being made in some areas thanks to the pandemic

Yes - you read it correctly

All of us, wherever we were, remember the daily bulletins of the number of cases of Covid. They seemed to have been sensitive indicators of how things were going: up, down, no change and so on. Often these figures were used to instil fear and pile on or justify restrictions. Sometimes they were good, and people started relaxing - not too much, though, because the silent killer could be waiting round the corner.

Drive-ins and mass testing of all kinds were all the rage; the majority wanted to be tested because they wanted to protect either themselves or the community they lived in. The problem with all of these “cases” is that they were based on qualitative PCR results or, even worse, on self-reported symptoms with an unclear starting date or validation from - heaven forbid - a physician or nurse.

We have already explained that a PCR positive/negative result is useless as its results must be interpreted in the context of the date of onset of symptoms, a person’s drug and medical history,…