Posted on 06/29/2020 7:21:04 AM PDT by Kaslin
Everything 'flattening the curve' represented has been abandoned and now thousands have needlessly died, millions are out of work, and cities are burning.
At one point, the theory of “flattening the curve” was ubiquitous. The basic concept was that lockdowns could slow the spread of coronavirus, and this was of great importance since, as we were told at the time, “We can’t stop this virus.” The narrative went that if the virus were to spread unchecked, hospitals would be overwhelmed and both people with coronavirus and those needing medical attention for other ailments would die from the lack of access to care.
It all made sense. To a certain extent, it still does. Most graphics depicting flattening the curve, such as in The New York Times, showed two curves. Typically, the first was associated with no lockdowns that peaked well above the capacity of the health-care system, while the second, “flattened” curve was associated with lockdowns with its peak hovering near capacity. The areas under each curve, representing the total number of Covid-19 infections, were roughly equal.
Flattening the curve made two assumptions. First, it assumed that a certain amount of deaths and infections were inevitable and the best we could do was delay the process. No one promoting flattening the curve talked of stopping the disease; there were no graphs showing that if we locked down, infections would go straight to zero.
Second, flattening the curve was always shown with the same level of flattening: just enough to not overwhelm the health-care system. This was a tacit admission that flattening the curve would be painful and that it would not be beneficial to flatten the curve beyond the level needed to prevent overwhelming the healthcare system.
Flattening the curve was the bait. Next came the switch.
It didn’t take long for the “flattening the curve” storyline to be abandoned. For example, California had more than 26,000 hospital beds available for coronavirus patients, but they locked down when they had about 200 coronavirus hospitalizations on March 20. That was less than 1 percent of their coronavirus hospital capacity. It quickly became clear that the California hospital system was not under threat, yet the lockdowns remained and “flatten the curve” was abandoned in favor of “suppress at all costs.”
To this day, there are states that locked down during the initial flurry of panic and remain locked down despite the lack of any true threat to hospital capacity. At its peak, Colorado had 888 coronavirus patients in hospitals. As of June 24, that number is 134 and has dropped near-continuously since April 23, yet the governor is removing restrictions slowly and schools are contemplating remote learning for the fall.
The narrative of flattening the curve was almost silently replaced with “lockdowns save lives.” Many early shutdowns resulted in over-suppression, which meant any subsequent opening would be accompanied by an increase in cases and hospitalizations.
Yet, since the flatten-the-curve notion that infections were inevitable has been abandoned, any uptick in cases is now spun by most of the media as apocalyptic. This can be seen in Florida, where cases are surging and ABC, CNN, and CBS all frequently report record numbers of cases. This ignores the fact that Florida has more hospital beds available now for potential patients than before the pandemic started.
This curious phenomenon isn’t confined to the United States but has played out all over the world. New Zealand started talking of flattening the curve, but quickly enacted aggressive lockdowns and managed to stop the virus. Now, however, they are in a situation where they can open up internally, but because of their lack of immunity, the entire country must remain isolated from the rest of the world.
The greatest tragedy associated with abandoning flattening the curve to suppress at all costs is the massive number of non-coronavirus deaths that are a direct result of the lockdowns. The New York Times found that almost one-third of the excess deaths in New York and New Jersey were not from coronavirus. It’s almost impossible to make a reasonable estimate at this point, but my calculations put this number around 30,000.
Flattening the curve was sound logic when it was originally presented, and remains so today. That’s why so many people across the political spectrum originally bought into the idea. The change from flatten-the-curve to stop-the-virus-at-all-costs, however, has been a disaster. More than 40 million people have lost their jobs. The related angst and associated lack of social opportunities created a dry forest that exploded in flames when George Floyd was killed. Moreover, deaths of despair and child abuse are both likely rising as a result.
We must reject the largest, most destructive bait and switch ever enacted and return to the principles of flattening the curve. We must accept that nature can be brutal and more infections will happen. Yet we must push through. We must strive to reopen our society as much as possible and only implement mitigation efforts to the extent needed to avoid a clearly imminent threat of overwhelming hospitals.
Oh, I know. I've seen people wearing hand towels, silk scarves, skiing face masks (which have holes over the nose and mouth), and even one woman who was simply holding a handkerchief over her mouth and nose as she walked through the grocery store.
And the kicker? That all of these people walk up to the checkout counter, tap the keypad with their fingers, etc. The stupidity of the masks is astonishing, but not as astonishing as the people who believe that it makes any difference.
I've asked this before, several times: if masks, socialist distancing, and lockdowns work, why are we still dealing with them after more than THREE MONTHS?! And what happened to "15 days to flatten the curve"? When and why did it become, "No one can ever be exposed to COVID, EVER!!! And we will keep everyone locked down and wearing masks and staying 6' apart until... well, until we (the politicians) get whatever it is that we want out of this."
Is this the Spanish translation? What’s it’s title?
Like many things that make sense, it can be hijacked and turned into something else for a completely different, nefarious purpose by the Left.
Who are full of immigrantes, legal and non-legal
THANKYOU!! I KNEW it couldnt be real!
So 100% besides the point as to be utterly useless.
The point is THEY’RE FULL. For the first time EVER. Pima county has around 3000 ICU beds cumulative. Last reports 25 of them are available. That has never ever happened before, NEVER.
If what you’re worried about is country of origin at this point, you’re just a damned idiot racist pinhead. Don’t reply, I don’t give a damn what you have to say about anything.
Biblical!
This entire thing has been a scam from the very beginning.
It always was, except for maybe 2 weeks.
Exactly! Now these dictator governors are using it as an excuse to keep their States under martial law!
The socialists democrats took advantage and 47 million are out of work.
AFTER the election we will find out the extent, and the guilty parties which have foisted this Hoax and Scam upon the Stupid of these United States. There will be Hell to pay no matter who loses. Watching the death throes of the dimbicile demorrhoid parasite party. Enjoy the show.....
This entire hoax has one goal only. To drive President Donald J. Trump from office. The Democrats knowingly have caused THOUSANDS OF DEATHS but simply shrug them off as collateral damage, worth the trouble and heartache to meet their objective. This is a last ditch effort before the November election. Combining Covid-19 with BLM and Antifa, they hope to trick President Trump into making a mistake.
This is a three pronged attack on the Constitution of the United States. Unrest, revolution, riots, terrorist operations, while constantly singing their favorite word, “RACISTS!”
Keep your powder dry.
I HAVE noticed, though, that it’s getting harder and harder for the Enemy Media to cobble together ANY sort of stories to continue to promote the FEAR they’ve become addicted to.
So, that’s A Good Thing! :)
“Governors’ next move will be submission masks for everyone.”
Governors next move will be mandatory vaccination for everyone.
Only the uninformed would be foolish enough to take it.
Thanks for posting that.
Yes, and this time our meat processing plants will have to be shut down for good:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53218704?
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