COVID-19 Information, Graphically

The per capita graphic is of greatest concern.

Using a wartime analogy, it’s 1942. Focusing the public on what is going to happen after the war is over isn’t much going to help win it. Discussion and planning are warranted, though not much in public. It’s putting the cart before the horse and good it’s largely stopped.

I can support different social distancing measures by circumstance as some advocate. Shutting the whole country down, and perhaps even whole states, isn’t best. But it’s not that bad now and we’ll shut down when it gets bad doesn’t qualify as a standard to advocate for.

Significantly less social distancing absolutely requires widespread and readily available instant results testing combined with prompt comprehensive contact tracing, and a population educated to be prepared for immediate increased social distancing measures. There’s not been much improvement in the 25 days since everyone who wants at test gets a test, though it’s still any day now. There are some people that could help with determining test results triggers of various social distancing measures, and some tracing capability, but senior level people in pandemic response mode aren’t in position to direct it. It’s probably too late for any significant deployment now, but there’s a month to get it in order.

Nearly everything has been a response to circumstances as they get out of control. COVID-19 is not a problem. No, it is, and we need testing. Wait, what about the PPE needed to administer tests and for healthcare workers and first responders subject to exposure? OK, we’re getting a lot of positive tests and people going to emergency rooms, what kind of and how much therapeutic equipment do we need? Oh no, who can we get to operate it? I have no doubt there are people that could have told you this last year.

It’s a virtual certainty there aren’t going to be enough ventilators to go around. Two after that became common knowledge nothing has been formulated were just getting around, at least in public, to biomedical ethics of an shortage of therapeutic equipment. That is arguably harder than anything else, so it’s not unexpected.
It leaves the biomedical ethics to how the few thousand ventilators the administration has stashed are distributed, and how healthcare providers choose to use the equipment. The wartime PTSD will extend from healthcare providers to grieving families, including some grieving death that had nothing to do with COVID-19.

We’re on a ship at sea closing in on an iceberg that we know is there. It seems as if it’s been slow motion, at least to other than healthcare providers and a few others. It’s grim enough already without 1,000 people dying in NY, and 2,500+ nationally, on Easter. The front line is heroic and deserves full support. It’s good so many on the fringe are doing what they can. DeSantis, do the right thing and get all of those people off those ships awaiting safe harbor.

This may not be subject matter for general public discussion at this time, but I think readers here won’t overact or overly despair of it.