Medical doctor tells premier of Victoria: We need an alternative medical response to SARS-CoV-2

The following article is an open letter of several medical doctors to Daniel Andrews, incumbent premier of Victoria. In it, the doctors enjoined Andrews to lift the Stage 4 restrictions imposed on the state of Victoria, in Australia, and have offered their assistance in crafting a new set of policies that will serve to ease the impact of restrictions to the “having on the physical and mental health of the general population”.

The doctors says that the COVID mortality rate is relatively low, compared to influenza, and that the state has not registered excess deaths in July this year despite the increase in infection cases in Victoria. They also reiterate that the medical and social consequences of Stage 3 and 4 restrictions are severe. To end, the group of doctors gave a 5-point recommendation to help address the issues of current government policy.

Editor’s Note: Much of what the doctors raised in this letter are the same concerns we have raised in the early parts of this outbreak. We see from the open letter that doctors, too, realize that the solutions imposed by the government do not commensurate the risks of the disease. Such solutions have caused huge social, physical, and medical impacts which are much more worrisome than the impact of COVID-19.

Over the last few weeks, doctors from various countries have started to speak out against the draconian measures being implemented in the name of health and security. Shouldn’t their insights be the first to be recognized in the crafting of any revised pandemic response? [Also see Health professionals around the world call for the end of lockdowns and other COVID restrictions].