80,000 COVID vs. 80,000 Flu Deaths

As of today (May 11, 2020), 80,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.

In 2018, 80,000 Americans died of the flu. It was a bad flu year.

It's fascinating how we look at death.

The Infection Fatality Rate of COVID-19 is about 10 times worse than influenza. 

Therefore, if we didn't shelter in place, perhaps we would have lost 10x more Americans than the 2018 flu season, which would mean about 1 million deaths.

I've been called callous. But imagine if:

1. We treated airline flights like rocket launches - and took 7 hours to go through all the safety checks.
2. We set a 10 MPH speed limit nationwide.
3. We mandated a nonstop shelter in place to stop the 5 million deaths from communicable diseases. 

Such draconian measures would save thousands of lives. But would you be in favor of them?

Not all lives are equal

If a US soldier is KIA, his family gets $100,000

When the US military accidentally killed an Afghan boy, they gave his father $1,000 as compensation.

It easy to make deaths look meaningful and meaningless

Cite 9/11 and you'll get people emotional quite quickly. 

Cite a big number to put things in perspective. For example, 5 million people die from communicable diseases every year:

• Lower respiratory infections: 3 million
• Diarrhoeal infections 1.5 million
• Tuberculosis: 1 million

That's 4.5 Sept 11th happening every day of every year.

It's not either open the economy or close the economy

There's the Swedish way, which allows some opening:

• Schools are open since kids are at low risk.
• People are encouraged to shelter in place.
• The old are asked to stay home.

More info