Re:Coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions ...
by ornornor on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @07:05AM
(#22615302)
The problem is that so many people are ill or die within a very very short window instead of being spread out as it is before the epidemic.
From a purely selfish point of view, assuming the disease will be a minor inconvenience to you because you’re young and healthy, there are other things to consider:
- what happens to your (presumably much older) parents when they get sick? Death is a very real outcome there
- what happens when you have a car crash and need intensive care but all hospital beds are full and there are also younger patients than you to treat with a better outcome? You’re triaged lower priority and may not get the care you’d normally get or survive at all
For perspective, there really aren’t that many ICU hospital beds altogether because the usual number of people who need intensive care at any given point in a city of millions is in the hundreds (maybe low thousand?) Once the exponential nature of the epidemics hits and there are thousands of people who need care right now on top of the usual load, then it’s like in Italy where some are left to die just because choices must be made and there are either healthier victims with better prognosis.
From a purely selfish point of view, assuming the disease will be a minor inconvenience to you because you’re young and healthy, there are other things to consider:
- what happens to your (presumably much older) parents when they get sick? Death is a very real outcome there
- what happens when you have a car crash and need intensive care but all hospital beds are full and there are also younger patients than you to treat with a better outcome? You’re triaged lower priority and may not get the care you’d normally get or survive at all
For perspective, there really aren’t that many ICU hospital beds altogether because the usual number of people who need intensive care at any given point in a city of millions is in the hundreds (maybe low thousand?) Once the exponential nature of the epidemics hits and there are thousands of people who need care right now on top of the usual load, then it’s like in Italy where some are left to die just because choices must be made and there are either healthier victims with better prognosis.