Topper wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:03 pm
UW, deaths are skewed to the most vulnerable section of the population, they are not a uniform indicator. In BC, it is the over 60 population and tilted towards men.
Right, but deaths are the things that we want to avoid and presumably are the special value thing that we are trying to avoid. How the disease spreads, its prevalence, etc., does not correlate on an even ratio for certain, on that we agree. (If there's a 2% fatality rate, that doesn't mean we can expect 2 people to die when 100 new cases are reported -- the demos on those 100 infected people (age, baseline health condition, sex, etc.) as well as the symptoms being presented (if any) make an enormous difference.
Every other stat other than death is simple to quantify. Its resources spent on treatment and time out of work. You don't shut down economies because people might be taken out of the economy or strain the economy if they get sick..... You shut down economies if the cost in lives is too high.
Topper wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:03 pm
An interesting discussion in today's update was Dr Henry's comments on the situation in the US. Her biggest concern is with the depth of spread through the community rather than in spot outbreaks linked to a centre. Reigning that in will not be easy, especially with a populous hell bent on the individual over the community.
I don't disagree with this observation, though I suspect she sees the populous hell bent on the individual over the community as a bug, not a feature, whereas I generally see it as a reverse. I do think that Americans tend to be more individualistic, less compliant with authority, than other societies. I think this is on balance more good than bad, but there's no doubt that there are some contexts where this trait doesn't serve us well.
Beyond that, while Americans are more individualistic historically, they absolutely bind together when facing external threats and (until recently) existential threats. Moreover, the individual-community dynamic is not a dichotomy; how is it that Americans are simultaneously more individualistic than most nations and more patriotic/nationalistic than most nations? But it *is* different with this threat. It has become political -- act stupid cautious if you are on the left, where masks in your car driving alone, and call out people for not following perceived rules that don't apply in the context (safety culture and all), act stupid risky if you are on the right. Behavior becomes less a function of common sense of best practices in the specific context to protect selves and others and more virtue signalling -- both sides.
What' more, American individualism -- like all individualism -- can come in many variants. And the dangerous one (for today's situation) is narcissism, where the exercise of rights are cleaved from personal responsibility. And for those who don't have that anti-authority gene and who rely on rules to govern their behavior, they are as bad as the pure narcissists. The first group flaunts rules because they don't regard them and they are the center of the universe, the second stop acting with common sense when restrictions are eased, believing they wouldn't be eased if it weren't "okay" to behave a certain way. These two groups, generally younger, think its a perfectly good idea to cram into a bar because either (narcissist, 1) if I want to party, I'm gonna party! or (person whose mom cut their meat at age 12 but who got a 1450 on the SAT, 2) if the state hasn't closed it down, it must be okay!
