3 ms·

I'd also argue that looking solely at excess deaths is a rather narrow view of how Sweden's strategy has panned out, given what we're learning of "Long Covid"'s

I'd also argue that looking solely at excess deaths is a rather narrow view of how Sweden's strategy has panned out, given what we're learning of "Long Covid"'s[1] impacts on the human body. It's also distorted by accessibility to quality healthcare etc. Covid caused ICU bed nights would be an interesting metric, but again, distorted by that accessibility issue. Indeed, I'd suggest looking at excess deaths is perhaps misleading for other countries like the US due to the access to care factor. Excess deaths ends up acting both as a measure of infection, and a critique of healthcare policies. Something like deaths / cases would be interesting, but then you're introducing the variable of "how many cases were actually discovered via testing". I don't think I need to link to the head of the US government's claims that increased testing only causes rates to go up... [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/15/damage-to-multiple-organs-recorded-in-long-covid-cases https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/15/damage-to-mult...

onecommentman 6y ago
The nice thing about looking at excess deaths is the specificity and finality of the metric. “Case” is problematic due to testing errors and sampling bias (and the fact that “case” in the medical sense generally means you are under a doctor’s care). “Hospitalization” may mean “with COVID”, to manage hospital resources for infection control, or “from COVID”, the popular interpretation to assess how serious the illness is and how quickly the serious illness is spreading. We can all agree on what death means. There is still the forensic issue of untangling how much COVID contributed, and that has been a focus of CDC work. But it’s a cleaner metric than most. Another post here gives the CDC site link, but here it is too (gives State-by-State info as well) https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm Might be nice to have a QALY-based assessment at autopsy...how many more good years would this person have had without the COVID-associated event? Admittedly a guess, but insightful nonetheless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year
absolutelyrad 6y ago
One of the major impacts of CVOID is likely going to be on men's fertility.

onecommentman 6y ago

The nice thing about looking at excess deaths is the specificity and finality of the metric. “Case” is problematic due to testing errors and sampling bias (and the fact that “case” in the medical sense generally means you are under a doctor’s care). “Hospitalization” may mean “with COVID”, to manage hospital resources for infection control, or “from COVID”, the popular interpretation to assess how serious the illness is and how quickly the serious illness is spreading. We can all agree on what death means. There is still the forensic issue of untangling how much COVID contributed, and that has been a focus of CDC work. But it’s a cleaner metric than most. Another post here gives the CDC site link, but here it is too (gives State-by-State info as well) https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm Might be nice to have a QALY-based assessment at autopsy...how many more good years would this person have had without the COVID-associated event? Admittedly a guess, but insightful nonetheless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year

absolutelyrad 6y ago

One of the major impacts of CVOID is likely going to be on men's fertility.