Not another one minimizing the effect of Covid? Another one saying Covid is just a "flu"?
It is not Black Plague but it's by far THE WORST PANDEMIC in our generation.
Even though the death toll is no where near those in the past - but remember that now we have all the modern medicine that has kept many alive this time round.
Even by death toll, I'm pretty sure it is the third-worst since 1900.
- Spanish Flu
- HIV
- COVID-19
To be fair, if you go by population percentage, it is possible one of the mid-20th century flu pandemics still beats it. but I don't think so.
Actually... pretty much the same thing... It shows in the USA the states who confined hard and the ones who didn't had a similar curve.
Basic per capita rate of infection and death in the US was about 2.5x that of Canada. That the pattern of the curve was similar isn't a great argument.
Some measures were alright like putting plastic glasses in front of cashiers but tons of measures were useless or down worst.
Given what we now know, the plastic shielding in front of cashiers was basically useless if they were indoors in uncirculated air.
Peoples that wanted to meet did it anyway. Curfew may have made it harder for some peoples to meet later but peoples found way around.
Yes, that an "honour system" approach probably didn't actually change behavior much and most people just made their own risk assessments anyway does seem to be the case both here and elsewhere.
When Texas "opened up" earlier this year, they found that basically no one changed their behavior. Mandates and guidance have limited effects after a certain point and there is a lot of behavioral inertia.
The only thing that i am semi agreeing on having closed are bars, because they are the type of place where peoples get drunk and party and you cross with a lot of strangers. But restaurants, cinema etc, that was totally overkill.
Indoor dining at restaurants has been shown to be high risk (bars are worse, of course). Again - closed space, uncirculated air, long exposure add up to a bad combination.
Everytime there was a protest outside there was no major eclosions, yet TONS of peoples very close to each other wich prove outside is not really risky at all.
There has been an absolutely ridiculous amount of restriction on outdoor activities even as the data rolled in showing the risks there are in general quite low. I agree.
I think if you are talking about asymptomatic spread stats you also need to include presymptomatic spread stats. Ie anyone who is not showing symptoms but capable of spreading it anyway.
That's not what presymptomatic means. It just means you aren't showing symptoms now but develop them later. People who are
truly asymptomatic (infected but never develop symptoms) really do seem to not transmit the virus effectively. People who are
presymptomatic (they feel fine now but a couple of days later come down with symptoms) seem to transmit the virus quite a bit. That long presymptomatic infectious period has been a major problem with COVID-19.