Open letter from Italy to the international scientific community

Re:Open letter from Italy to the international scientific co... by solidasparagus on Sunday March 15, 2020 @03:22AM (#22581953)

Easy to say when you don't seriously have to face your children becoming homeless. While it certainly isn't as dramatic as a pandemic, there are severe human consequences of completely shutting down the economy. I'm sure I don't need to repeat the stats that showcase how close to the edge much of America lives - 40 million Americans don't consistently have access to enough food[1]. 1 in 6 children don't have access to enough food (which has massive effects on development and long-term health). 22 million children rely on school lunches as their primary source of nutrition[2]. Food insecurity is directly correlated with higher rates of diabetes and obesity[3]. Half of America has a negative net worth. Unemployment is correlated with alcohol and drug abuse[4].

Pretending that the only disaster we are facing is medical is blinding yourself to the reality that we are trying to navigate our way between twin catastrophes.

[1] https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/...

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/03/13/us/ap-us-virus-o...

[3] https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2019-04/2...

[4] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/07/how-job-l...

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Re:Open letter from Italy to the international scientific co... by sdkaufman on Sunday March 15, 2020 @04:40AM (#22582211)

And there aren't severe human consequences from millions of people dying in the next few months? Easy to say when you don't seriously have to face the possibility of your parents and grandparents dying, I guess. Remember that the mortality rate for people 80+ is 1/7, which isn't far from a game of Russian roulette.

Plus, all the school districts that have shut down so far have continued to offer meals for students AFAIK.

Source: - https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lamvo/coronavirus-death... - https://www.santaclarausd.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&D... - https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bay-Area-school-closures...

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Re:Open letter from Italy to the international scientific co... by solidasparagus on Sunday March 15, 2020 @04:59AM (#22582282)

I actually very much do need to seriously face that possibility. And I still think complete isolation is too extreme.

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Re:Open letter from Italy to the international scientific co... by CydeWeys on Sunday March 15, 2020 @08:31AM (#22583091)

This is where the government needs to step in and guarantee healthcare, paid sick leave, and improve unemployment. It's already starting to happen. We'd be in much better shape if we were already closer to European countries in this regard, though.

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