
How to Save Lives in a Covid-19 Pandemic - anarbadalov
https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/how-save-lives-covid-19-pandemic
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K0SM0S
I've been following MEDCram¹ on YouTube recently. It's a medical channel for
students by doctors I believe, but currently it's all about COVID-19
obviously². It often speaks to other medical practitionners.

The quality of information on such a channel (prob. not the only one, just my
own serendipity) is outstanding compared to any 'mainstream' media out there —
with good reason, it's not sexy to downplay mass hysteria or talk about actual
RNA mechanisms with schematics.

Here's my point, using an image: when the boat is leaking, I stick with the
guy who built the boat (and help him if that's the right thing to do); while
the poets and dramaturges aboard make noise for the sheep, eventually the fish
if we only listened to them.

Reality ≠ fiction.

Global information ≠ mainstream news (sad but true, whether medical or
financial or else).

[1]: channel:
[https://www.youtube.com/user/MEDCRAMvideos](https://www.youtube.com/user/MEDCRAMvideos)

[2]: COVID-19 updates: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ_IRFkDInv-
NvRRUN0aq...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ_IRFkDInv-
NvRRUN0aqe51sMs188k8z)

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jostmey
What scares me the most about this coronavirus are infected people testing
negative multiple days in a row only to test positive later. There are two
explanations:

1\. The diagnostic accuracy of the current tests is too low or

2\. Some people do not clear the virus, their symptoms simply resolve, but
this leaves open the potential for a flare-up later in life.

Either scenario is bad, and we simply don't have enough information about the
virus yet.

Given how little is currently known about the virus, I think drastic steps
including quarantining US cities are warranted. So far, only China appears to
have implemented a successful quarantine. Hell, the Diamond Princess was a
disaster, showing how hard it is to contain the virus. I think as a society we
need to accept drastic measures to stop the spread of the virus. This will
slow the spread of the virus, buying us time to develop countermeasures like
vaccines.

~~~
t-writescode
> I think drastic steps including quarantining US cities are warranted

Do you expect whole cities, such as Seattle and San Francisco to be able to
survive when people are not allowed to go to work? People such as grocery
store workers, restaurant employees, Uber drivers, and so on?

Who will pay their rent?

The United States, at present, is not prepared, at all, for handling a month-
long quarantine of any major city. The poor people in that city will suffer,
hard, and the fall out will be worse than the 2% death rate in those cities.

~~~
jobigoud
I think the 2% death rate is only when your healthcare system isn't completely
overwhelmed and you have enough mechanical ventilators for the ~20% of cases
that need them.

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jpxw
Reports have just come out that Spain has had its first death from this virus.
The really significant news is that this death occurred on February 13th -
before any cases were reported in Spain at all. This is very concerning.

[https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-spain-
dea...](https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-spain-death/spain-
confirms-countrys-first-death-from-coronavirus-health-official-idUSL8N2AV2HP)

~~~
crystaldev
Isn't that the opposite of concerning? It shows that the virus has been in
Spain for some time now without noticeable impact.

~~~
senordevnyc
Or there hasn’t been enough to notice yet, but they’re about to explode with
cases and deaths like we keep seeing.

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hncynic23
Is there any sane information on this Covid-19 except alarmism?

~~~
sp332
When does raising an alarm stop being "alarmist"? 5,000 dead? 10,000?

~~~
geofft
5,000 people die in New York City every month. Well over 10,000 people die
from the normal seasonal flu each year in the US alone. Also in car crashes.

~~~
sp332
You didn't answer the question.

~~~
geofft
Then I will repeat myself more bluntly. Any alarm that would trigger on the
annual seasonal flu or on merely the standard background death rate is a
meaningless alarm and is therefore alarmist, so no, 5,000 to 10,000 deaths
does not clear the threshold.

