5 ms·
When an article lays out exact figures like this, it is hard to sympathize with those interviewed who were outraged about the lack of heavier restrictions. 12,0
by Mediterraneo10 6y ago
When an article lays out exact figures like this, it is hard to sympathize with those interviewed who were outraged about the lack of heavier restrictions. 12,000 victims in a country of 10 million people. That is a relatively tiny number, and many citizens may well choose to accept that level of morbidity in order to preserve something of a normal life for younger people, allowing them their big group events and courtship rituals so important for their coming of age. (Throughout this pandemic year I myself have opposed certain restrictions because I see it as the biggest betrayal of our youth since May ’68.)
Often it has been claimed that while the flu takes victims every year, COVID cannot be compared to the flu because its victim count is higher. Yet modern populations have also become larger, and so the proportions are not so different than with common seasonal ailments of times past, when society did not feel a pressure to impose lockdowns as opposed to other public-health measures.
- pbuzbee 6y ago12,000 victims is small in an absolute sense, but per capita it is close to the US's numbers (US is about 25% higher: 1681/M vs 1340/M).
- lordnacho 6y agoBut if they did like Taiwan there'd be barely any deaths and people could do as they liked within the borders.
- e40 6y agoThis, 12,000x.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago"Within the borders". No thanks. Besides the fact that European countries are not self-sufficient in basic goods and they rely on a steady daily stream of cross-border freight, ordinary Europeans should not be walled off from their fellow Europeans.
- gerikson 6y agoOut of curiosity, why was May ‘68 a “betrayal of our youth”?
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoAre you familiar with what happened in France in that year? [0] Young people en masse attempted to gain a voice in the running of the institutions that determined their lives. Yet they were met with police violence, as well as betrayal by the geriatic leadership of France’s major leftist party who saw the fresh new ideas of the youth as too scary and outside their staid old comfort zone. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_68 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_68
- gerikson 6y agoI am familiar with May '68 but I do see it more as an ultimate victory for youth, rather than repressive defeat. But I think I see your point nonetheless.
- gregmac 6y agoOne of the things that really bugs me with comparing to the flu is it turns out we could have prevented many deaths, but didn't. We just accepted the number of people dying from influenza as status-quo. We now know we can actually do a much better job of controlling the spread of viruses, if we choose to. We could aim for higher vaccination rates, especially in younger people and those working in close proximity to others. We could increase ventilation standards. We could change attitudes (and compensation) around people coming to work sick. It doesn't mean pandemic-style protocols, but small adjustments have a compounding effect. Even societal attitude shifts like considering it as disgusting for an unmasked person to cough in public as it is to spit in the floor can change things. Influenza has an R0 of 1.3 [1]. Every bit closer to 1.0 that gets would save thousands of lives. [1] https://www.qps.com/2020/10/05/covid-19-versus-the-seasonal-flu-facts-and-figures/ https://www.qps.com/2020/10/05/covid-19-versus-the-seasonal-...