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>> Fatality rate goes up drastically if the medical system fails Based on my research, it actually seems like fatality rate will NOT skyrocket if our medical s
by smallgovt 7y ago
>> Fatality rate goes up drastically if the medical system fails
Based on my research, it actually seems like fatality rate will NOT skyrocket if our medical system is overwhelmed like in Italy.
Here is an actual study that looks at fatality rates in Italy vs China after stratifying by age group: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763667 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763667
The most eye-opening graphic is the first chart. To summarize the article:
1) Italy's fatality rate for patients younger than 60 is actually better than China
2) Italy's fatality rate for patients older than 60 is less than double that of China
3) Italy may have a higher rate of pre-existing conditions which makes fatality rate look worse than it is
4) Italy is only testing symptomatic patients which makes fatality rate look worse than it is
All of these results were surprising to me. The information being spread by the mainstream media suggests that if hospital systems get overwhelmed like they have in Italy, fatality rate will skyrocket.
In reality, it seems like we're dealing with a classic case of Simpson's paradox (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox). If you stratify data by age group, you find that even if hospital systems are overwhelmed (to the same degree as Italy), fatality rates will, at most, double.
- umbec 7y agoIn Italy the hospital system has not _yet_ been overwhelmed, even if it is quite close to that point. Still, people are already dying just because it is getting harder to have a proper care/medications even when you are not covid-sick. While covid fatality rate is not affected by such cases, at national level this is definitely not negligible.
- thdrdt 7y agoWhen a hospital system is overwelmed it will also be bad for other emergencies. The amount of people that need medical care caused by this virus should also be taken into account. And that rate is high.
- gautamnarula 7y agoThis is a good point. How many people who got in a car accident might die when they otherwise wouldn't have because all the ICU units were taken up by COVID-19 patients? How many people will succumb to an infection they caught in the hospital because there wasn't enough PPE? While not a direct fatality of the viruses, these cases should be estimated to see its total mortality impact.