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This is actually a good point. The mortality rate for the coronavirus is lower if ventilators or supplemental oxygen are available. But we have limited numbers
by ekidd 7y ago
This is actually a good point. The mortality rate for the coronavirus is lower if ventilators or supplemental oxygen are available. But we have limited numbers of ventilators.
So if we can blunt the peak infection rate, more people will survive, even if the total number of cases is the same.
- pohl 7y agoThere’s a brilliant animated gif that explains this visually https://twitter.com/SiouxsieW/status/1236721200291655680 https://twitter.com/SiouxsieW/status/1236721200291655680
- aquadrop 7y agoLooks like it's also not entirely correct in what it wants to convey. If assumption is that having overall amount of cases under health care capability threshold lowers total amount of deaths then area of the second chart should be much smaller. Now they look approximately equal, which means overburden health care system or not, it didn't make a difference.
- pohl 7y agoYou sure about that? An overburdened health care system will cause people to die that otherwise would not have. A patient, for example, who needs a ventilator for some condition other than COVID-19, but can’t get one. These are not reflected in the area under the curve.
- aquadrop 7y agoYep, you're right, it's more for a total deaths chart. But I would expect it to be visible even in total cases chart, since less people should be out on the streets spreading the disease.