> My heart breaks every time I read about someone going into the hospital and having to live their final 2-3 weeks of life without being able to see their family and friends. That is a deep disregard of essential human dignity and I think it’s a scandal that we’ve allowed it to go on.
It's more than a scandal, it's absolutely criminal and all people involved in implementing it should be punished harshly. It needs to be done so it is clear that we cannot and will not accept it ever again in the future.
You do a great job analyzing the numbers. I would like to see you analyze the death rate as a % of total cases by month and if possible compare it to a typical influenza season. USA Today reports "Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 45 million COVID-19 cases and 726,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University." Unless I am missing something is a death rate of less than 2%. The monthly death rate in the early stages had to be staggering, so that would imply that the death rate now is really low.
You're right, I should do something on the death rate b/c that is a super-interesting topic that is also pretty complex. It would be a good post, let me ruminate on it a bit.
I've long subscribed and enjoyed your posts, and this is one of the finest yet.
I've been uneasy about "getting back to normal," whatever that means. But we'll get incrementally closer as we continue to develop medicine and treatments. The development of molnupiravir is a huge deal. The glacial pace of rolling out easy at-home tests needs to be resolved. As each of those become approved and more widely available, we'll be able to move further forward. Beyond that, it's on each of us to simply decide to be more normal and advocate for those policies. Though different from the flu, that's an apt comparison for how we should approach this disease.
Absent from most of the policy proscriptions is the need for people to be both responsible in their actions and generous to their neighbors.
If we have widely available testing and you have COVID, PLEASE do not engage in social activities. I think most people want to protect their family and friends and a widely available testing strategy is important for that.
At the same time, if a person discovers that they are COVID positive and asymptomatic, they probably don't need to quarantine for 14 days. There is a common sense flexibility that we need to expect and respect.
> My heart breaks every time I read about someone going into the hospital and having to live their final 2-3 weeks of life without being able to see their family and friends. That is a deep disregard of essential human dignity and I think it’s a scandal that we’ve allowed it to go on.
It's more than a scandal, it's absolutely criminal and all people involved in implementing it should be punished harshly. It needs to be done so it is clear that we cannot and will not accept it ever again in the future.
You do a great job analyzing the numbers. I would like to see you analyze the death rate as a % of total cases by month and if possible compare it to a typical influenza season. USA Today reports "Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 45 million COVID-19 cases and 726,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University." Unless I am missing something is a death rate of less than 2%. The monthly death rate in the early stages had to be staggering, so that would imply that the death rate now is really low.
What am I missing?
You're right, I should do something on the death rate b/c that is a super-interesting topic that is also pretty complex. It would be a good post, let me ruminate on it a bit.
I've long subscribed and enjoyed your posts, and this is one of the finest yet.
I've been uneasy about "getting back to normal," whatever that means. But we'll get incrementally closer as we continue to develop medicine and treatments. The development of molnupiravir is a huge deal. The glacial pace of rolling out easy at-home tests needs to be resolved. As each of those become approved and more widely available, we'll be able to move further forward. Beyond that, it's on each of us to simply decide to be more normal and advocate for those policies. Though different from the flu, that's an apt comparison for how we should approach this disease.
Absent from most of the policy proscriptions is the need for people to be both responsible in their actions and generous to their neighbors.
If we have widely available testing and you have COVID, PLEASE do not engage in social activities. I think most people want to protect their family and friends and a widely available testing strategy is important for that.
At the same time, if a person discovers that they are COVID positive and asymptomatic, they probably don't need to quarantine for 14 days. There is a common sense flexibility that we need to expect and respect.