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How would one rationally model and determine a multifactor policy on covid lockdown, balancing for health, economy, and overall wellbeing? Is it even possible t
by dr_dshiv 6y ago
How would one rationally model and determine a multifactor policy on covid lockdown, balancing for health, economy, and overall wellbeing? Is it even possible to balance those, if it means making x lost life years equal to y many bankruptcies or z lost jobs, etc?
- alkonaut 6y agoThis is what authorities like the FHM (the public health authority does every day). You use tools like counting QALY, for example.
- dr_dshiv 6y agoBut how do you equate or make commensurable those different measures? How many job losses equal a lost life year?
- alkonaut 6y agoThat’s the difficult part, but that’s the job of the public health authority. Same thing with missed semesters of a school. How many add up to an 80 year old dying? And so on and so forth. I don’t envy those that have to do this arithmetic, but it can’t be avoided.
- dr_dshiv 6y agoI don't see how it is arithmetic nor the job of a public health authority. It's a philosophical, ethical and political issue. There are bounding conditions, like research showing that job loss increases rates of suicide. [1] But we still argue about whether it is fair to treat the life of a 12 year old as more valuable than the life of a 92 year old. So it isn't just arithmetic. [1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30141-3/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0...