Letters: Civilisation will survive coronavirus

Covid questions

Sir: I worry that Matt Ridley and others are trying to frighten us about Covid-19 (‘Like nothing we’ve known’, 21 March). The fact is that we do not know how deadly the virus is. We know that it is widespread; but that does not make it deadly. How long-lasting is the danger from Covid-19? Will it remain in the system after the pandemic scare is over? We do not know. But will civilisation survive? You betcha!

I was called up to National Service in 1952 and while waiting for the train to take me to Aldershot, I bought a book at the station called Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. Written in 1949, this was about a deadly virus that wipes out 99.9 per cent of humanity. Civilisations collapsed, but slowly the remaining humans regrouped. True, the science of 1949 didn’t have any of our modern scientific knowledge; nevertheless, Matt Ridley might find it interesting.
Michael Kaye
London N16

The symptomless majority

Sir: Nicholas Farrell errs in suggesting that the death rate from Covid-19 is 8 per cent among those who contract it (‘A shadow over Italy’, 21 March). His figure derives from dividing the number of ‘cases’ in Italy (31,506) by the number of those who have died. However, this ignores the probably much larger number of people who’ve had the virus but not been tested — those with only minor symptoms. South Korea, which has tested a much greater number of people, reports a much lower mortality rate of just under 1 per cent. Still a lot of people, of course.
Tim Cheatle
London E3

Know your Ramones

Sir: I don’t like to quibble with Rod Liddle’s daring analysis of punk rock and its possible influence on the Johnson government (14 March), but I fear the reader may come away with an overly simplistic view of the Ramones, which Liddle calls a ‘right-wing popular band’ that was in tune with the coming election of Ronald Reagan.