[nffc]

Tbf it's true that the "deaths within 28 days of a positive test" metric - whilst entirely consistent and quantitative to measure - quite possibly wasn't ever going to be entirely accurate when determining deaths due to having the virus.


For example, someone could equally have died within 28 days of a positive test, but had minimal or no symptoms and tested negative after a couple of days, recovered perfectly and then died of another reason within the 28 days, which would count on the figure. Likewise, someone who had tested positive but died of the effects of contracting the virus more than 28 days after contracting it, would equally not count.



None of that also counts people who died due to the effects of the covid response, such as mental health issues of lockdowns, losing loved ones, isolation due to not being able to do their usual pre-pandemic activities because they were (potentially arbitrarily) deemed unsafe, or losing their careers, livelihood or business because of the restrictions, yet not having covid itself.


The figures weren't too good an idea really, in the sense that it instilled and maintained the sense of fear of the virus which was more damaging than the response. Most of the deaths, whilst all equally sad to those concerned and those around them, were definitely amongst those who were elderly and/or had underlying health conditions because it was in those the virus could progress to something more serious. You could see this from when vaccinations started how the cases and deaths dropped (as much due to restrictions as vaccinations) but when the cases went up again due to delta (which wasn't milder) and then omicron (which was) the deaths did not as much, meaning restrictions weren't generally needed any more. And there were other ways to work after the initial panic had subsided without restrictions too (such as specific advice to people with symptoms to isolate - close contacts without symptoms was overkill really - and for those at risk to consider their activities and interactions to see if it was worth the risk).



There were, of course, reasons why behavioural scientists were engaged to help with the messaging of the covid response.