OPINION
In just one particularly bad flu season, Tasmania alone experienced hundreds of deaths from influenza. It barely made the news. In the three years of Covid, Tasmania recorded a total of 256 “Covid deaths”. Given the notoriously generous standard for a “Covid death”, it’s likely that the seasonal flu killed more Tasmanians in a single year than in three years of the supposed Black Plague of the 21st century.
Even Australia’s far and away worst Covid performer, Victoria, has notched up just over 7,000 “Covid deaths”.
But it’s quite possible that, in a grim illustration of the ridiculously screwed priorities of the Covidians that that figure may well be overtaken in the near-future by extra cancer deaths. As a direct consequence of lunatic lockdown policies.
A growing number of Victorians could be living with undiagnosed cancer, new analysis shows, as pandemic disruptions and worrying bowel cancer screening rates hamper earlier detection of the deadly disease.
Cancer cases were expected to rise in 2022 due to Victoria’s ageing and growing population. Instead, there was a 3.6 per cent decline.
It’s not that they’ve gone away, they’ve just gone into hiding. Which is not going to help anyone.
The Victorian Cancer Registry has estimated that at least 6660 Victorians could now be living with undiagnosed cancer, at risk of death or poorer outcomes as the disease progresses without treatment […]
The phenomenon has been linked to fewer Victorians undergoing cancer screening or assessments as disruptions to healthcare continued in 2022 [… other] patients have reported delays getting a diagnosis for worrying symptoms over the past three years or have put off appointments because of the cost.
Although the figure quoted above is based on modelling – and we’ve all had a brutal lesson in relying too much on modelling – there are real-world cases of just what happens when people are denied cancer screening, ‘cuz Covid’.
Melbourne mother-of-two Tahli Batkilin said she was sent away from the GP in late 2020 because she had some Covid-like symptoms, presenting with shortness of breath and a cough, preceded by itchy welts on her body.
The symptoms were actually caused by non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that begins in the lymphatic system.
Instead of investigating the symptoms, the GP abruptly ordered her to leave. ‘Cuz Covid.’
Three years later…
Several weeks later, a different doctor ordered a CT scan that picked up a mass on her lungs. After eight rounds of unsuccessful chemotherapy, radiotherapy and then finally CAR T-cell therapy – which she described as “a miracle” – the cancer disappeared.
Batkilin was one of the lucky ones.
Professor Alexander Heriot, a colorectal surgeon and the director of cancer surgery at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, said he had noticed an increase in patients who had more advanced tumours […]
Associate Professor Joel Rhee, the chair of cancer and palliative care at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said Covid-19 had had wide-ranging impacts on health services and patient behaviour. Some people had delayed routine scans because they wanted to avoid being exposed to it, for example.
The Age
Yeah, but… Covid! COVID!!