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Given how overwhelming majority of Covid deaths are elderly and sickly people, it is virtually guaranteed that on net, Covid deaths themselves are positive for

by xyzzyz 4y ago

Given how overwhelming majority of Covid deaths are elderly and sickly people, it is virtually guaranteed that on net, Covid deaths themselves are positive for the economy. The elderly overwhelmingly have their productive years behind them, and in the retirement, they mostly consume the resources instead of producing them. So no, Covid deaths are not bad for GDP. Situation would have been much different if the Covid victims were younger and healthier on average.

bobthepanda 4y ago
The problem is that COVID patients overwhelm medical systems and end up causing other types of mortality to rise too.
- MichaelZuo 4y ago
  Up to a certain limit until hospitals are saturated, as the quantity of healthcare cannot go negative.
  - bobthepanda 4y ago
    The quality sure can, if you can catch COVID and increase your mortality by going to the hospital. We saw this in the early days of both Wuhan and later NYC. The beds overfilled, then the hallways, then it start spilling into surrounding streets, and then the armed forces had to be called in to set up makeshift hospitals.
    - xyzzyz 4y ago
      None of the makeshift military hospitals were actually used in NYC. They were only set up in the interest of preparedness, but they did not end up being necessary.
    - MichaelZuo 4y ago
      If a hospital is saturated then by definition no more people can further enter the hospital. There's a physical limit to how many people can fit inside a hospital, and that limit is the saturation point, at least in my definition. It's possible that a mildly sick patient became a moderately sick patient because they received some disease while within the premises that they otherwise wouldn't have. And in an extreme scenario, hospitals could possibly kick out moderately sick patients to accommodate even more severely sick patients, which could cause the former to spread diseases to otherwise healthy people. But this seems highly likely.

by xyzzyz 4y ago

bobthepanda 4y ago

The problem is that COVID patients overwhelm medical systems and end up causing other types of mortality to rise too.

MichaelZuo 4y ago
Up to a certain limit until hospitals are saturated, as the quantity of healthcare cannot go negative.
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  The quality sure can, if you can catch COVID and increase your mortality by going to the hospital. We saw this in the early days of both Wuhan and later NYC. The beds overfilled, then the hallways, then it start spilling into surrounding streets, and then the armed forces had to be called in to set up makeshift hospitals.
  - xyzzyz 4y ago
    None of the makeshift military hospitals were actually used in NYC. They were only set up in the interest of preparedness, but they did not end up being necessary.
  - MichaelZuo 4y ago
    If a hospital is saturated then by definition no more people can further enter the hospital. There's a physical limit to how many people can fit inside a hospital, and that limit is the saturation point, at least in my definition. It's possible that a mildly sick patient became a moderately sick patient because they received some disease while within the premises that they otherwise wouldn't have. And in an extreme scenario, hospitals could possibly kick out moderately sick patients to accommodate even more severely sick patients, which could cause the former to spread diseases to otherwise healthy people. But this seems highly likely.