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I know this is horrible, but likely not too many. In Italy they are currently kicking people over 60 out of the hospitals to make way for the younger people who

I know this is horrible, but likely not too many. In Italy they are currently kicking people over 60 out of the hospitals to make way for the younger people who are more likely to survive with medical treatment.

ddingus 7y ago
And they have roughly 5 times the beds per 1000 people too.
- tathougies 7y ago
  No they don't. Italy has much fewer critical care beds (the kind needed for COVID) than the United States, which is #1 in the world.
  - ncallaway 7y ago
    > No they don't. Italy has much fewer critical care beds (the kind needed for COVID) than the United States, which is #1 in the world. Do you have a link to statistics that support that? Is that on an absolute basis or on a per-capita basis? On a per-capita basis, I see more hospital beds in Italy than in the US (3.18 to 2.77): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_hospital_beds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_hosp... What's your source for data on critical care beds? I'd love to take a look
    - tathougies 7y ago
      Oh sorry. Meant to post the article, from Forbes. US and germany are way ahead of the world. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/03/12/the-countries-with-the-most-critical-care-beds-per-capita-infographic/#166e96df7f86 https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/03/12/the-co... Hospital beds are a different story, but not what is important for COVID, which needs ICU beds. Hospital beds are much easier to deploy anywhere (and with the emergency measures taken federally, will see a huge increase due to waived FDA requirements for inspection). An ICU is much more involved, and requires ventilators, specialty beds, special equipment, etc. Much more difficult to deploy suddenly in response to sudden upticks.
vharuck 7y ago
If a lot of people die, a lot of economic value will be literally put into the ground: funerals, handling of estates, coffins. That's not long-term productive value. At best it reshuffles money in an optimal-blind way.

ddingus 7y ago

And they have roughly 5 times the beds per 1000 people too.

tathougies 7y ago
No they don't. Italy has much fewer critical care beds (the kind needed for COVID) than the United States, which is #1 in the world.
- ncallaway 7y ago
  > No they don't. Italy has much fewer critical care beds (the kind needed for COVID) than the United States, which is #1 in the world. Do you have a link to statistics that support that? Is that on an absolute basis or on a per-capita basis? On a per-capita basis, I see more hospital beds in Italy than in the US (3.18 to 2.77): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_hospital_beds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_hosp... What's your source for data on critical care beds? I'd love to take a look
  - tathougies 7y ago
    Oh sorry. Meant to post the article, from Forbes. US and germany are way ahead of the world. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/03/12/the-countries-with-the-most-critical-care-beds-per-capita-infographic/#166e96df7f86 https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/03/12/the-co... Hospital beds are a different story, but not what is important for COVID, which needs ICU beds. Hospital beds are much easier to deploy anywhere (and with the emergency measures taken federally, will see a huge increase due to waived FDA requirements for inspection). An ICU is much more involved, and requires ventilators, specialty beds, special equipment, etc. Much more difficult to deploy suddenly in response to sudden upticks.

vharuck 7y ago

If a lot of people die, a lot of economic value will be literally put into the ground: funerals, handling of estates, coffins. That's not long-term productive value. At best it reshuffles money in an optimal-blind way.