And why should I offer event he slightest respect to someone who comes out with this, as Dingwall did today:
11h ago 09:41
Again that was also his stance right at the start, before people saw the horror for themselves. I dont think he has adapted sensibly to pandemic reality at any stage, he will just keep playing the same tune until such a time as there is actually a chance of erring on the side of caution actually doing more harm than good.
Fear and anxiety are best managed via an effective response that instills confidence, not by making claims that will not stand the test of pandemic time.
And the collateral damage argument has been shown to be an absurd distortion already because taking a stance of avoiding lockdowns etc doesnt avoid that damage at all. Rather it makes it larger and more prolonged because other health services still get suspended due to the levels of infection that are reached by failing to impose the right restrictions at the right time. There will be many terrible medium and long term health consequences from this pandemic, but Dingwall and his ilk would not have helped avoid this.
It would not be easy to design a healthcare system that could have avoided these other consequences in this sort of pandemic. The most likely way to achieve it would have been to try a policy of actually keeping the virus out in the first place and stamping down very hard on the early outbreaks caused by early cases that did get through. Once things had gone out of control far beyond that, its much harder. A much larger health service with more staff and spare capacity all sorts of other things could have helped a bit. As could a much better attitude and capability in regards hospital infection control, and public confidence about going to hospital at a time of high infection rates. Even then, there would still be problems and health damage that would take a long time to recover from.
If you ask me the first lesson of this pandemic, apart from the lockdown-related stuff like acting early, travel restrictions etc, is that nations should be spending a much greater proportion of their wealth on healthcare. Its not a waste of money in normal times unless you have shit priorities, and the pandemic has amplified that point.