Omicron = endemic COVID?

[SueDonim]

Campbell seems to trade on the "Dr". He has a PhD, in nurse education. I would rather take notice of Michael Baker, and our local experts.

PhD = Doctorate = Doctor, and with around half a century of workplace experience in medical environments worldwide I'm convinced that Dr John has more than enough wisdom to evaluate the research data he bases his presentations on.

There is no shortage of people who are working in professional positions other than that which their university qualifications denote them as being 'expert' in. In my experience a university degree is as much proof in an individual's ability to understand and process scientific data as a relegation into a rigid field of work focus.

Also many of the COVID 'experts' that continually front our media broadcasts are aligned to tertiary institutions so are beholden to towing the accepted line in terms of public health measures. Dr John is independent as a retired professional and the fact that his YouTube videos remain online two years into this pandemic would be proof that the powers that be haven't had grounds to contest the interpretation of facts that he presents. He is a breath of fresh air in the current climate of redacted info and political double speak regarding COVID.

Campbell seems to be a legitimate nursing expert who is bordering on the fringe with some unsubstantiated theories. He could eventually be proven to be right, but not yet. In the meantime we have our government being advised by experts in relevant fields of epidemiology, infectious diseases and public health. All who are much closer to the coal face and appear to be following the evidence coming out of the international research.

These experts are aligned to our tertiary institutions and yes, they have to be loyal to the objectives of these institutions when they speak to the media. But...
- they are mainly professors who "outrank" Campbell's PhD
- Campbell's specialty is nursing which is a different kind of discipline from the the specific medical disciplines of the various professors we have guiding us
- the institutions that are behind the various professors are those that are teaching the next generation of doctors and have a vested interest in having their representatives present high quality evidence based output. The reputation of their institutions depends on the world seeing credible advice from professors who really are expert.

I would trust their knowledge and advice well ahead of Campbell's.

Also, when there is talk of Covid becoming endemic, we need to remember:
- people who have only a mild case can still suffer from long covid and be left with a degree of disability long term
- one of the issues with covid is the autoimmune response that it can trigger. You may think you dodged the bullet with covid itself, but months or even years later come down with a lifelong condition like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, etc. It's only early days yet - we simply don't know how it will pan out in that direction but the autoimmune response from hospitalised has been well  documented.
- the road to the disease becoming endemic still means everyone gets sick. What does that do to our economy and infrastructure while we go through that?
- the virus mutates readily. Omicron might turn out to be mild but the more people who contract it, the more likely it is to mutate and every mutation has the potential to be deadly.