With China shutting down WUHAN again and vaccinating 11 million residents, let's examine where we are - and were.

Back in January 2020 this trivial but new virus emerged. Trivial in that it was only dangerous or lethal to very few - the elderly near death through ageing, the vulnerable who were overweight or had respiratory problems, diabetics and a few others.

I say trivial, and said trivial then, because even when there was no vaccine Covid was less dangerous than flu (I quoted a lot the excess deaths figure in England & Wales alone over 3 months when the wrong vaccine was given - 50,000. Which, if taken over a year, would have been 200,000. Still, trivial in the overall scheme of things; millions die each year and quite a few from the illnesses caused or provoked by colds or flu or other infectious diseases: pneumonia, bronchitis etc).

However Media exaggerated and inflated the facts, was believed by the majority of humanity - gullibles and governments.

Now we have vaccines (so many; so rapidly discovered; almost like a variant of flu) and very few getting any variant of Covid get serious ramifications, let alone die.

So why this over reaction? Does China really think they will stop Covid? Can they stop the spread of colds or flu?

I'm a fan of vaccines - for the vulnerable. I think it's a mistake to give them to those (the vast majority of under 40s) who can deal with it as they deal with flu or colds. I only started taking the flu vaccine when I turned 60.

Yes Covid is new and different. I had only mild symptoms (like flu but with incredible night sweats). But then Long Covid made my joints and muscles ache for ages. But we can live with the consequences unless we are old, diabetic etc (I am) in which case vaccines make sense.

My advice to potential Covid sufferers? Don't smoke. Don't be overweight. Exercise. Wear masks in inside gatherings if advised (probably only cuts down the risk by 1% but it's worth it). Be careful if there are explosions (like flu seasons). Use common sense. And do not believe media exaggeration. If media wants to start daily bulletins... "Today 15 people died from a cut finger. 43 died from stubbing a toe. 365 died in a road accident. 450 died from Cancer. 76 died with pneumonia. 689 had terminal heart attacks. 4 died WITH Covid. 19 died WITH flu. 87 died WITH colds. 709 died from not eating or drinking". Let it.

Good summary of our wonderfully level-headed times JK. I still have hope that we won't end up on an endless lockdown loop like China seem wedded to. This is a crucial moment in our history; have we set an insane precedent for over-reaction or not?

I am not sure how relevant the actual number of covid patients is, but you are working with figures based on the number of sufferers WITH lockdown. So you cant use these figures to imagine what the result would be with no intervention at all.

True Honey but I don't actually think Lockdowns have any effect on infections. And the 2017-2018 Wrong Vaccine winter for flu - had NO lockdown. Indeed most of us didn't know about it until or after we GOT flu (I'm an example; had the jab; got flu in Morocco; 5 days in bed). I'm sure a lockdown would have had no effect at all on the number of deaths. 50,000 would still have died.