LONDON – Insensitive or trying to make a point? The World Health Organization (WHO) compared 3,400 COVID fatalities in the last 24 hours to 18 Boeing 737 crashes each day.
Such a claim was made based on an average that a 737 carries around 189 passengers.
Dr. Abdi Mahamud, a Physician of Public Health for the WHO made this argument to suggest that COVID is still a serious thing and that Omicron is not mild.
Mahamud mentioned that “someone smarter than I made a comparison, saying that the Boeing 737 MAX, two of them crashed in 2018-19, 346 people died”.
Those in the industry, particularly those involved in the 737 MAX crisis may not have taken this as a good message, especially with this crisis still in the small parts of an ongoing process.
However, it can be seen as quite a good point to make due to the numbness that the pandemic has created on people not taking the virus seriously.
This is obviously due to the fact that at the moment, people around the world may deem a plane crash to be more serious than a pandemic.
There are of course political reasons behind the disenfranchisement with the pandemic, especially with behaviors from state leaders who may not be taking things as seriously.
For example, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been politically trashed for not following own rules that he set out to the electorate.
What do you guys think? Do you think this point is effective or is it insensitive? Let us know in the comments!
