Re: Covfefe 19: now in 3D
A friend asked me an interesting question today, one for which I didn't really have an answer. It's something I'm going to have to think about.
The question is this. What's the number? Let's say that with all of the "medicine" the U.S. is taking right now (massive closings of schools and businesses, complete economic meltdown in the country, social and economic cost associated with mass layoffs, interrupted educations, etc...) we end up with a death toll of say 30,000, nine or ten times what China has experienced thus far.
Is it worth it?
Let's say that without the medicine, the death toll would be 150,000 in this country. Is the medicine worth it?
Years ago when I took a Grad course in Public Health Policy they made us research something like this. I can't remember all of it but there are some things to think about past the actual death. Same for when you deal with issues to do with lack of insurance causing bad outcome. (our case study was give the person medical care/meds but here it could be preventing catching it)
You have to consider the following-
-the critically ill do not just die. They usually use a lot of resources before they die- $$$
-if working the death causes expense for the place they work- disburse anything owed, pay to deal with administrative tasks involved in paying that out, pay to train a new person
-Beyond the direct cost you have other concerns for family-
-cost the funeral, burial, any medical bills, legal costs involved in end of life/ post death
-cost of care if person takes some time to die. Most families have at least one member who experiences lost wages/disruption of ability to work when loved one is sick
-lost income the person provided
-lost person to share responsibilities like child care, maintaining house/shopping, cooking, other domestic stuff
Add to this multiple people in family could be impacted with the same illness so you have all this compounded
This is compared to the cost of prevention-
- give care and eat the cost of medication, office visits in our case
-this- people stay out of work but prevent multiple illness at once.
-less long term impact because you haven't lost your work force,
-dead people do not have the ability to recover and re-enter the work force