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maybe in the US, but lockdowns in many other countries have suppressed virus transmission completely. Why would our goal be different? Because we can't achieve

maybe in the US, but lockdowns in many other countries have suppressed virus transmission completely. Why would our goal be different? Because we can't achieve that?

strictnein 6y ago
The US spans a continent and is the 3rd most populous nation. Comparing it to someplace like Taiwan or Singapore doesn't make any sense.
- eggsnbacon1 6y ago
  China and India are larger. China suppressed the virus, India is doing worse than the US. Comparing to those countries doesn't make much sense either because US is much wealthier. We should be doing far better than both, and we're not.
  - zdragnar 6y ago
    Meaningful comparisons require reasonably accurate data, and there is nothing like that to be found in any of these countries. Aside from the fact that testing has been minimal for a number of reasons, different areas have perverse incentives to either over or under count COVID fatalities. In the US, any and every death of someone who had the virus, and many who did not, are still counted among the death tolls. The recent case of the guy who died from alcohol poisoning comes to mind, though I personally know of others who died from other causes, and were counted even though they hadnt been tested. Conversely, there is good reason to be skeptical of China's accounting as well- both due to government interference and the simple fact that they were not able to reliably test the majority of cases.
    - eggsnbacon1 6y ago
      You can look at the EU average, which is close to US population and still makes the US look bad. Test positive rates can tell you how roughly how much a country is undercounting. If US has twice the test positive rate as another, they're only testing half the cases. The fact is no matter what metric you look at, the US is doing worse with our response than almost anywhere else.
  - hinkley 6y ago
    Larger but three times the population density, which likely means far more than 3 times the number of interactions. And we don’t know how China is really ever doing about anything. We need to stop confusing statements from China with transparency.
- thomaslord 6y ago
  Can you provide any specific reasons why a large group of people can't fight the virus in a similar way to multiple smaller groups of people?
  - zdragnar 6y ago
    Population density, primarily. More dense means more close contact, and more contact overall comparing areas with public transit to those without. Not to mention the human toll of quarantine- I live surrounded by a few hundred acres of forest, my cousin in a studio apartment. My daily life has hardly changed since I also work from home. She lives in or near paris, I think, and couldn't go 10 feet past her apartment door without a permit, and mostly got that only for groceries. Even still, she managed to catch it (or a similar disease, since she was refused testing). Some people on HN love to hate on rural life, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way.

maybe in the US, but lockdowns in many other countries have suppressed virus transmission completely. Why would our goal be different? Because we can't achieve that?

strictnein 6y ago

The US spans a continent and is the 3rd most populous nation. Comparing it to someplace like Taiwan or Singapore doesn't make any sense.

eggsnbacon1 6y ago
China and India are larger. China suppressed the virus, India is doing worse than the US. Comparing to those countries doesn't make much sense either because US is much wealthier. We should be doing far better than both, and we're not.
- zdragnar 6y ago
  Meaningful comparisons require reasonably accurate data, and there is nothing like that to be found in any of these countries. Aside from the fact that testing has been minimal for a number of reasons, different areas have perverse incentives to either over or under count COVID fatalities. In the US, any and every death of someone who had the virus, and many who did not, are still counted among the death tolls. The recent case of the guy who died from alcohol poisoning comes to mind, though I personally know of others who died from other causes, and were counted even though they hadnt been tested. Conversely, there is good reason to be skeptical of China's accounting as well- both due to government interference and the simple fact that they were not able to reliably test the majority of cases.
  - eggsnbacon1 6y ago
    You can look at the EU average, which is close to US population and still makes the US look bad. Test positive rates can tell you how roughly how much a country is undercounting. If US has twice the test positive rate as another, they're only testing half the cases. The fact is no matter what metric you look at, the US is doing worse with our response than almost anywhere else.
- hinkley 6y ago
  Larger but three times the population density, which likely means far more than 3 times the number of interactions. And we don’t know how China is really ever doing about anything. We need to stop confusing statements from China with transparency.
thomaslord 6y ago
Can you provide any specific reasons why a large group of people can't fight the virus in a similar way to multiple smaller groups of people?
- zdragnar 6y ago
  Population density, primarily. More dense means more close contact, and more contact overall comparing areas with public transit to those without. Not to mention the human toll of quarantine- I live surrounded by a few hundred acres of forest, my cousin in a studio apartment. My daily life has hardly changed since I also work from home. She lives in or near paris, I think, and couldn't go 10 feet past her apartment door without a permit, and mostly got that only for groceries. Even still, she managed to catch it (or a similar disease, since she was refused testing). Some people on HN love to hate on rural life, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way.