D&D and the rising pandemic

[Sacrosanct]

I am aware of and agree with 100% of the facts stated above.

Nevertheless, I am more concerned with the potential economic damage inflicted by those policies, such as social distancing, quarantine, travel bans, lack of patronage to small and developing businesses. Will what the long term economic effects be? How many deaths we result from food, water, medicine shortages due to disrupted supply lines?

I understand what you're saying, but this is really, really a bad thing to do. Have you heard of the term, "flattening the curve"? There's a really good reason why all medical experts are advocating cancelling events, staying home whenever possible, closing down schools, etc. It's because it significantly slows down the rate of the viral infection. And that's critical because our hospitals cannot treat everyone unless we do those things. They will be overwhelmed. Like in Italy. Where people are dying in the hallways because there aren't enough beds or oxygen machines to help them.

Please, please, do not place the economy or profit over the value of human lives.

 

[Acolyte of Zothique]

Well, the very first case... was just one guy sick. It is only after a bunch of cases come up that they can see a trend, and figure out what's going on.

It was an unknown disease - trends or not, the alarm should have been raised from the beginning. There are no excuses for this. The Chinese authorities covered it up until late January.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Acolyte of Zothique]

Last I checked, dying is a "lasting effect". It lasts a long, long time.

The ultimate physical consequence of COVID 19 will indeed last longer than the economic effects...

 

[Nagol]

Last I checked, dying is a "lasting effect". It lasts a long, long time.

To the individual and to a lesser degree the small network around him. To human society at large, not so much.

 

[Acolyte of Zothique]

I understand what you're saying, but this is really, really a bad thing to do. Have you heard of the term, "flattening the curve"? There's a really good reason why all medical experts are advocating cancelling events, staying home whenever possible, closing down schools, etc. It's because it significantly slows down the rate of the viral infection. And that's critical because our hospitals cannot treat everyone unless we do those things. They will be overwhelmed. Like in Italy. Where people are dying in the hallways because there aren't enough beds or oxygen machines to help them.

Please, please, do not place the economy or profit over the value of human lives.

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Flattening the curve is critical unless you want to see a mortality rate that makes the Spanish Flu deaths look like peanuts. If you do nothing then the healthcare system becomes overwhelmed (see Italy) and people who could be saved with medical intervention will die. Not to mention deaths caused by other conditions that can no longer be treated urgently - heart attacks; strokes; trauma etc. China was willing to take a colossal economic hit to come down on the coronavirus hard. And it worked.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Sacrosanct]

As I think we will (unfortunately) see, this is a losing battle.

If we flatten the curve, and it works ... then guess what? There are those who will say, "Hey, no big deal. Why did we do all of that? It was just a bunch of hype."

If we go through the measures, but we are a little bit late, then those same people will chime in with, "We did all of that and it still didn't work. We would have been better off not doing anything."

You can't win.

That's why public health and preventative measure requires buy-in and trust from the public. An ounce of prevention might be worth a pound of cure, but the trouble with prevention is that when it works, we don't notice it working.

If people say, 'Hey, you overreacted and it turned out not so bad.", then that means we did it right. It's unfortunate that many in the population can't or won't see that.

I used to be a helicopter mechanic. If I did my preventative maintenance right, it didn't crash and kill people. But no pilot saw that. They just complained, "Why are you putting the bird back into phase now? It still flies fine." But if I didn't do preventive maint, you can bet it would have been a disaster at some point.

It's a great flaw of our society. We are so adverse to spending $1 on preventative care, but would rather spend $10 fighting the problem after it happens.

 

[Nagol]

Not sure the whole, "One death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic," is the right approach to take?

Everyone dies. Humans society has generally come to accept that.

The societal pain felt by the pandemic will exceed the sum of individual pain for losing loved ones since it will include that spread widely as well as other forms of pain that specifically target those who live.

 

[Deset Gled]

If we flatten the curve, and it works ... then guess what? There are those who will say, "Hey, no big deal. Why did we do all of that? It was just a bunch of hype."

If we go through the measures, but we are a little bit late, then those same people will chime in with, "We did all of that and it still didn't work. We would have been better off not doing anything."

You can't win.

I define winning as "minimizing the death count" not "being popular". Public education and politics are real issues, obviously. But they are secondary to keeping people alive.