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We won't again permit the economy and life in general to grind to a halt for months on end unless it's as dangerous as polio or the black plague. So that's bet

We won't again permit the economy and life in general to grind to a halt for months on end unless it's as dangerous as polio or the black plague. So that's better.

jeffbee 2y ago
In terms of mortality COVID-19 was way, way worse than polio ever was.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- Terr_ 2y ago
  It might be that visible and permanent disability from polio was actually scarier than abstract death, simply because the former is a lot easier to visualize and generates a larger set of hypothetical "what would I do next" challenges.
- brandonmenc 2y ago
  Mortality isn't the only measure of danger. Like 80% of COVID deaths were over age 65. For young people with no comorbidities, COVID was mostly benign. Magnitude aside, that's more or less a normal disease. Polio was paralyzing thousands of healthy children every year with no end in sight. People freak out way more about something like that.
rscho 2y ago
Fantastic! Except you can't know in advance. So, the intelligent thing to do is to be prudent until you know what you're dealing with. Otherwise, by the time you decide it's dangerous enough to do something, you've already got an uncontrollable spread on your hands.
- maskzoff 2y ago
  [dead]
- mewpmewp2 2y ago
  Yeah, but economic damage is still what many people and countries feel from the event and maybe for years to come.
  - rscho 2y ago
    Being prudent doesn't mean stopping the economy in its tracks. It means appropriate planning and monitoring, with intervention as necessary. For some reason, people don't consider the cost of an unchecked epidemy, which is just as real as that of a controlled one. Except people have nothing to complain about, since they don't feel under pressure from anyone. They just feel sick...
- brandonmenc 2y ago
  > the intelligent thing to do is to be prudent until you know what you're dealing with Right. Which the general public figured out - accurately - about a month into the lockdowns. People will self-isolate for a week or two the next time around, but it's going to have to be a very different disease before we permit ridiculous extended lockdowns again.
- pclmulqdq 2y ago
  Usually, the rational thing to in situations where you have unknowns is to act as though those unknowns are unknown, and not alter your behavior.
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  We knew a few weeks in what the transmission rate and mortality numbers were, before it was even spreading widely in the US.

We won't again permit the economy and life in general to grind to a halt for months on end unless it's as dangerous as polio or the black plague. So that's better.

jeffbee 2y ago

In terms of mortality COVID-19 was way, way worse than polio ever was.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
Terr_ 2y ago
It might be that visible and permanent disability from polio was actually scarier than abstract death, simply because the former is a lot easier to visualize and generates a larger set of hypothetical "what would I do next" challenges.
brandonmenc 2y ago
Mortality isn't the only measure of danger. Like 80% of COVID deaths were over age 65. For young people with no comorbidities, COVID was mostly benign. Magnitude aside, that's more or less a normal disease. Polio was paralyzing thousands of healthy children every year with no end in sight. People freak out way more about something like that.

rscho 2y ago

Fantastic! Except you can't know in advance. So, the intelligent thing to do is to be prudent until you know what you're dealing with. Otherwise, by the time you decide it's dangerous enough to do something, you've already got an uncontrollable spread on your hands.

maskzoff 2y ago
[dead]
mewpmewp2 2y ago
Yeah, but economic damage is still what many people and countries feel from the event and maybe for years to come.
- rscho 2y ago
  Being prudent doesn't mean stopping the economy in its tracks. It means appropriate planning and monitoring, with intervention as necessary. For some reason, people don't consider the cost of an unchecked epidemy, which is just as real as that of a controlled one. Except people have nothing to complain about, since they don't feel under pressure from anyone. They just feel sick...
brandonmenc 2y ago
> the intelligent thing to do is to be prudent until you know what you're dealing with Right. Which the general public figured out - accurately - about a month into the lockdowns. People will self-isolate for a week or two the next time around, but it's going to have to be a very different disease before we permit ridiculous extended lockdowns again.
pclmulqdq 2y ago
Usually, the rational thing to in situations where you have unknowns is to act as though those unknowns are unknown, and not alter your behavior.
s1artibartfast 2y ago
We knew a few weeks in what the transmission rate and mortality numbers were, before it was even spreading widely in the US.