5 ms·

We should do better than to be ignorant of national and global decisionmaking and responsibility in public health and pandemic epidemology. It is a baseless cl

We should do better than to be ignorant of national and global decisionmaking and responsibility in public health and pandemic epidemology. It is a baseless claim that public health is systematically ignored in favor of pushing the pandemic’s reproduction number down. Do we really expect public health officers to be untrained, stupid, and dismissed? Is that what we really are seeing? Do we really think that public officials are ignorant of the metabolic and social implications of having to drive stakes into society? It is a fact that in functioning states, public health decisions are taken within an ethical framework of how to do least harm and preserve the most freedom, considering resource availability and longer-term effects of public health decisions, including the interacting feedback loops of the economy and public health. While overreliance on small metrics is clearly bad, this style of off-hand ignorance of public service is not what we need.

ScottBurson 6y ago
It does seem like a poorly chosen example. In the case of an exponential process, the doubling time is a remarkably important number.
logicchains 6y ago
>It is a baseless claim that public health is systematically ignored in favor of pushing the pandemic’s reproduction number down. It's not baseless when there have been multiple studies now showing lockdowns don't help, and even the WHO now recommends against them, yet authorities still push for them.
- pjc50 6y ago
  Can you point me at the WHO advice and how they're defining "lockdown"? And what the correct answer is? Because England is currently running at over 1600 COVID deaths a day, or half a 9/11, and we desperately need something that does help.
  - jdsully 6y ago
    Where are you getting this number? NHS published data is less than half this number.
    - pjc50 6y ago
      https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/uk-reports-record-covid-death-toll-for-second-day-running/ar-BB1cVB8p https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/uk-reports-record-covi... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/uk-reports-1820-covid-deaths-in-record-daily-high https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/uk-reports-182... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55738174 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55738174 https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ Where are you getting your data from?
      - jdsully 6y ago
        Straight from the source: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-daily-deaths/ https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas...
        pjc50 6y ago
        > deaths of patients who have died in hospitals in England Not including deaths of patients who died outwith hospitals.

ScottBurson 6y ago

It does seem like a poorly chosen example. In the case of an exponential process, the doubling time is a remarkably important number.

logicchains 6y ago

>It is a baseless claim that public health is systematically ignored in favor of pushing the pandemic’s reproduction number down. It's not baseless when there have been multiple studies now showing lockdowns don't help, and even the WHO now recommends against them, yet authorities still push for them.

pjc50 6y ago
Can you point me at the WHO advice and how they're defining "lockdown"? And what the correct answer is? Because England is currently running at over 1600 COVID deaths a day, or half a 9/11, and we desperately need something that does help.
- jdsully 6y ago
  Where are you getting this number? NHS published data is less than half this number.
  - pjc50 6y ago
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/uk-reports-record-covid-death-toll-for-second-day-running/ar-BB1cVB8p https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/uk-reports-record-covi... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/uk-reports-1820-covid-deaths-in-record-daily-high https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/uk-reports-182... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55738174 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55738174 https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ Where are you getting your data from?
    - jdsully 6y ago
      Straight from the source: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-daily-deaths/ https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas...
      - pjc50 6y ago
        > deaths of patients who have died in hospitals in England Not including deaths of patients who died outwith hospitals.