Posted on 04/09/2020 11:41:15 AM PDT by dangus
So is the purpose of the nationwide lockdown to "flatten the curve" or to reduce the total, cumulative number of infections? Because the very important distinction between the two goals is about to become critical.
See, "flattening the curve" meant delaying -- not preventing -- infections. The idea was that our medical system was going to become absolutely overwhelmed by infections, resulting in an elevated death rate. The notion was explicitly that people were going to get infected no matter what we did, but we could delay many of those infections until our medical system could handle them.
It's important because the curve has flattened in New York. They are still finding as many people as ever with the virus, but those that are found are much healthier. The number of hospitalizations and of placements into ICU units and of attachments to ventilators has crashed. So, there are now fewer resources being used. We've passed peak resource use, and we still have a nearly empty naval hospital and empty Jacob Javitz center.
https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/new-york
What do you think we should do?
A. Pay any cost, no matter how futile to contain the virus. Keep the restrictions in place until the virus is gone.
B. Loosen restrictions as soon as the curve flattens, including immediately in New York.
C. There was never a need for such tight restrictions.
D. A plateau is still too high! Loosen the restrictions fairly soon, but wait until the resource use is at a more sustainable level across the entire country.
E. Very slowly, and in very limited places, experiment with loosening restrictions to see if doing so creates a new increase.
Sounds like you’re starting a cult.
The late great Joe Cocker’s song,”you can leave your hat on”....can be temporarily amended to”you can leave your mask on”. All other words will obviously still apply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b04jq7NB1s
The late great Joe Cocker’s song,”you can leave your hat on”....can be temporarily amended to”you can leave your mask on”. All other words will obviously still apply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b04jq7NB1s
You know, I hadn’t thought of that. With my business in shambles, that might be a more viable option!
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