Why Accepting Two Million COVID-19 Deaths
may be Better Than a National Lockdown
American Thinker,
by
Selwyn Duke
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
4/5/2020 5:07:15 AM
We’ve heard much during the Wuhan flu crisis about a “worst case scenario” of two million dead Americans, a staggering number. But missing from the national conversation is something equally important: What’s the worst case scenario given our present course of action, largely locking down the country and freezing life like an insect stuck in amber?What if worse coming to worst means a great depression, a descent into tyranny, millions more dead from other causes and a permanently impoverished nation?Almost the entire virus debate has centered around whether the experts are correct
Reply 1 - Posted by:
IowaDad 4/5/2020 5:58:24 AM (No. 369021)
We work hard to cram as much goodness in our lives between our births and our deaths. The goodness of each day is decreased when we are restricted by the stay-at-home policy. If each day is degraded by (say) 30% for a month, that is the equivalent of dying ten days earlier (days of useful life lost per month). Some clever reader can convert this to the equivalent number of early deaths.
We can estimate the influence of a stay-at-home policy on deaths other than COVID-19:
Suicide (40,000) + 20,000
Influenza (40,000) -10,000
MVA (45,000) -10,000
Cancer (650,000) + 60,000
Heart disease (650,000) +60,000
So the policy itself causes an increase of 120,000 deaths, as well as useful days lost.
11 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
DCGIRL 4/5/2020 6:08:55 AM (No. 369023)
Must read. One disagreement, there will NOT be 2 million deaths not even global. The models projecting the degree of this virus are not accurate. I agree that the cure is worse than the disease. Between mental health problems of losing everything that you worked for and tensions of going to a store and seeing the shelves empty can wear on anyone. We all have a breaking point. We are all social animals. I have turned off the news in my home because these people are only worried about ratings and will pound the coronavirus into the ground. I think the president should open up for business by Easter. If you are concerned about getting the virus, then stay inside, wear a mask, wrap yourself in bubblewrap but the rest of us need to get on with life. As I said before, President Trump needs to bring Dr. Smith from the Smith Center for Infectious Diseases and Urban Health in East Orange, New Jersey. He was on Laura Ingram's show, he was extremely successful using the antimalarial drug on elderly people with underlying conditions.
38 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
franq 4/5/2020 6:46:57 AM (No. 369034)
We need to get some truth squads going. There are already some videos of people going around showing empty hospitals/parking lots where there were supposed to be long lines of people wanting to be tested (according to the media). I did wonder why Breitbart or some other site have not picked up on this. Any input from posters?
19 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Condor44 4/5/2020 7:17:06 AM (No. 369055)
Yes, get the people back to work. Get the economy going. A total collapse of the economy would be devastating, just look at where we are now. I don't understand why they just don't quarantine people who show symptoms or have the virus. Provide those scanning thermometers to businesses so they can scan people at the door of a business or place of employment. I know the president is not afraid, but whatever he does, he will be vilified bv the msm and the dems.
26 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
franq 4/5/2020 7:22:10 AM (No. 369061)
Agree, #4. Right now Trump is boxed in. That's why we need to get to the bottom of it. I hope he has operatives working on it.
19 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
JL80863 4/5/2020 7:30:31 AM (No. 369069)
What say we all meet back here in a couple of weeks to see what all you financial and economic geniuses have to say.
6 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
HammerDax56 4/5/2020 7:32:58 AM (No. 369072)
#3. Hospitals except for hotspots are at about 15% occupancy.
They are laying off nurses and doctors.
Surgery and diagnostic pays the bills. Surgeries are cancelled. Diagnostics cancelled. Well visits. All things that pays hospitals and staff.
Our local hospital is losing about $1.2 million each day this shutdown continues.
The wealthiest healthiest hospitals can keep this up a while. Most cannot.
RNs on either side of our house already laid off. Doctors are at home with no reimbursement coming in. Their rent is due too you know.
22 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
DCGIRL 4/5/2020 7:51:39 AM (No. 369087)
Here's a website that updates daily on cases/deaths, etc. It is by country not by states within the U.S.. Very interesting. I'm not sure how we would reach 2M based on the actuals. My husband and I are writing a letter to the president. You can also. Go to Whitehouse.gov and go to the envelope at the bottom of the site.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
15 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
franq 4/5/2020 7:56:18 AM (No. 369088)
That's what I mean, #7. Day after day, sensational headlines on Drudge. Morgues overflowing. "Bodies stacked like cordwood". I believe it is one gigantic lie.
20 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
stablemoney 4/5/2020 8:13:58 AM (No. 369103)
I supported the first 3 years. I do not support anything that has happened this year. All despotic, the same policies pursued by Hoover and FDR. Capitalism is criticized by the left for its booms and busts, but it is not capitalism that causes booms and busts, it is government interventions, like this one, and the same for 2009, with the interest rate manipulations, all for our good, of course. There has not been one second given to alternative options as mentioned in this article, such as protecting the vulnerable, focusing on the problem, rather than one size fits all shutdowns. The jackboot use of power by many in our government is not acceptable, and as this article wonders, will they give it up, now that they have tasted it. And this, the government reached for force right away, rather than voluntary cooperation. This is not a Pearl Harbor attack, the government has know about this since January. The aid to small business is $369B, which is enough for about one month of shutdown. The stimulus is $2.2T, the Fed is spending $4T, all being printed, and no production, which means rising prices and scarcities. This is a catastrophe! I do not support this!
18 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
planetgeo 4/5/2020 8:19:17 AM (No. 369109)
I've been tracking the statistics daily. While the data standards are highly questionable, even what has been provided does not appear to justify the extreme lockdown nationally. Number of deaths, demographics of those dying and hospitalized (aged, comorbidities), etc., absolutely indicate that the general population is at no greater risk than would be the case for a moderate flu season. The two Navy ships sent to NY and LA to relieve crowding in their hospitals remain nearly empty. Where is the asserted overwheming of our hospitals/ICU capacity? Answer: it doesn't exist!
It is becoming ever clearer that the media-induced panic is exagerrated and any continuation of it can only be for political purposes in alliance with the Democrats who have been openly looking for a way to destroy our economy as a way to destroy President Trump. This lockdown needs to end very soon, as in the next couple of weeks, not months.
29 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 4/5/2020 8:30:33 AM (No. 369122)
I find this an overly gloomy and exaggerated speculative piece. The "conclusions" are all taken to the worst extreme.
Here is one example which starts with a question. Why, after a recession, does our economy usually come zooming back? It is because the weakest companies and the weakest performing workers are let go. The stresses of a recession force tough decisions on the economy. Everyone re-focuses on what is successful, what works. When the conditions that sparked the recession recede, as they always do, the economy is lean and mean and ready to perform. It's like performing a tune up on a car whose maintenance has been neglected for years; some old parts are thrown away and replaced with new ones. For people and companies on the edge, it is painful. But new business is quickly generated and new jobs created. The new focus on what is necessary and what works brings success. The important thing to remember about our economy is that it was fundamentally VERY sound before the virus. Certainly there will be some resettlement needed but a lot of what worked will still work.
In short, the doom and gloom of the article is very unlikely.
The expectation of ALL the bad things happening after the virus is contained is highly unlikely. We will have a lot of work to do but that has been done successfully many times in the past. The most important thing is belief in ourselves and our Country. We have a great leader who KNOWS this.
10 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
bpl40 4/5/2020 8:42:44 AM (No. 369144)
Best reason? Open the economy and you will find there AREN;T going to be 2.0 million deaths. PDT was right , it is a hoax.
16 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
pacman333 4/5/2020 8:48:04 AM (No. 369152)
#8
Click on USA and you will get a breakdown by state.
From there, you can click on "source" on the right hand side of the table to get the local state details.
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
globalwarmer 4/5/2020 8:53:25 AM (No. 369158)
We're all going to die anyway, right?
6 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
rushie 4/5/2020 8:53:34 AM (No. 369159)
All of the MAGA policies of the last 3 years are still there: Tax Cuts, Slashing of onerous regulations, appointment of judges who follow the rule of law, independence of foreign oil, companies coming back to the US. I believe the President when he says we will come back and it will be quick! KAG
13 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Sunhan65 4/5/2020 9:34:17 AM (No. 369211)
Sidenote: Yesterday, several threads had spam replies with links to a porn site. When those replies were removed, several of us appeared to be disparaging re-numbered replies from good L-Dotters. So, for the record, I liked and agreed with #2/#8's replies yesterday and do so again today.
My additional two cents: The Left is killing our country. Literally. The reason this hasn't been lifted is because any politician who does the right thing will be vilified in the media the first time somebody dies. Remember "Bush lied, people died"? Now imagine what happens when President Trump pushes to re-start normal economic activity and someone connected to that dies with Covid-19. It doesn't matter that they would have died anyway. And it doesn't even matter whether they died from Covid-19. The Left is salivating to call President Trump a murderer. They hate him that much, and they don't care what it does to our country in the meantime.
We are in the midst of a hysterical over-reaction, and dismantling that will require very carefully-calibrated steps based on acceptable risks. It's all political now.
With the Left, it always is.
12 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 4/5/2020 9:40:50 AM (No. 369217)
There is a problem with the data contained in the link that #8 provided. The numbers don't add up. Total cases don't equal those infected plus recovered individuals. This is probably due to the fact that doctors only document a patient's condition, diagnostics, and how the condition was treated. A patient is normally sent home with meds to take and is on his/her own to take the entire prescription. There is no post-care followup or all-clear documentation that goes into patients' records.
2 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
LadyHen 4/5/2020 9:44:38 AM (No. 369222)
Deaths to C-virus were down 32.5% yesterday across America according to the StatNews Covid-19 tracker. Why? Could it be treatments are working? Fauci and Birx aren't saying. The CDC isn't saying. Doctors in the field are being left to fight this on their own, trying anything and everything. What an utter failure in leadership on the part of the chief health professionals of this nation. I am just not convinced anymore that the "experts" in DC that surround the President are in anyway looking at reality outside the beltway or NYC.
Birx said yesterday to not to go to the grocery or pharmacy. What?! We are not all so fortunate to have personal delivery services and assistants to do our shopping. People need food and Rxs. What kind of detached from reality thinking is that?
And these experts have no expertise in mental health. How many suicides and mental breakdowns will happen because of this isolation. Is that too not important?
President Trump needs to get the reins back from the "experts" before this stagecoach runs off the cliff.
16 people like this.
The basic fact is that Americans once again prove a willingness to exchange liberty for security. They show a further willingness to expropriate property without due process or compensation based on a government “emergency”. And now a willingness to give government central authority over private business and its production.
Congratulations, America, you failed the real test.
9 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
RedWhiteBlue 4/5/2020 10:05:08 AM (No. 369248)
The long swords are out to get TRUMP if he reverses the lock-down....some people WANT this country to fail and they are succeeding for now....he keeps saying that he wants American to get back to work and some will step out of line and start doing that and the floodgates will open soon.
9 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 4/5/2020 10:26:30 AM (No. 369289)
Why accepting 2 million COVID-19 deaths is better than a national lockdown? I reject that we must sacrifice one for the other. This is just more BS. The goal is to protect the people that are most vulnerable while keeping America open. Its an election year, so we get discussions like this.
4 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/5/2020 10:30:56 AM (No. 369295)
The concept makes a lot of sense. We may be saving some lives now only to have many more die later. If it's simply a numbers game that we are playing, the best solution is to open up for business and still maintain the distancing and extra care. I do not want to live in Venezuela.
9 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 4/5/2020 11:40:25 AM (No. 369372)
Rush quoted some serious and eye opening numbers last week on his show, Thursday I think it was. The media is carefully avoiding the fact that for the first three months of this year, thanks to the media and Fauci driven panic, suicide is actually many times higher than the CV numbers are. CV is barely a blip on the screen right now in comparison to regular flu, suicide and deaths by other means. Yet the media/Left and Fauci are focused on ruining this nation over something like this simply because of TDS. The glee from Fauci when he says he thinks a national lockdown should be in place until no more cases are seen is absolutely infuriating. The little Napoleon is destroying his own reputation as well as trying to destroy our nation.
11 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
chefrandy 4/5/2020 11:56:08 AM (No. 369393)
Trying to find a truly accurate source on stats will be nearly impossible. We already doubt anything coming from China, how do we ensure that the stats coming from our own CDC and NIH are worth a darn? Like it or not, there's a political component in all of this like what happened with SARS during Obama's presidency (minimize, minimize). I'm sure they're not above pressuring short of mandating to hospitals that anyone who has COVID-19 and dies, that COVID is described as the official cause of death when it's likely many people die with it instead of it due to underlying conditions. A functioning press should be asking that question.
5 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
DVC 4/5/2020 1:08:51 PM (No. 369473)
I doubt it was ever going to be 2 million dead. But half a million was very possibly in the cards, although most would be in the huge coastal, extreme leftist cities.
My disdain for those people and places has to be tempered by my Christian charity... which is hard to focus on some days.
1 person likes this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
DVC 4/5/2020 1:43:16 PM (No. 369505)
#19, I truly wish what you say (32% decrease in deaths) were true, but I can't find anyplace where that is shown. Even if it were true for one day, we need at least a week trend. Back from March 26 through March 30th the trend was fewer new cases every day in the USA. It looked really promising....but it was a false indication, the following days have continued the exponential growth.
And if you go to this source:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
and scroll down, there is a daily chart of deaths in the USA.....nothing showing there in any way of a reduction in deaths, sad to say.
Again, I really hope I am wrong and you are right, but I don't see it, and we need at least a week of that trend to mean much.
1 person likes this.
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