Re:COVID19 Predictions for 2021
by dekhn on Friday November 12, 2021 @11:42AM
(#29201288)
I find most of what is said here to be unrealistic.
Realistically, democratic governments and autocratic ones for the most part did an amazing job.
There will likely be a reckoning in the future, as it always takes time for public health numbers (for things like COVID deaths) to be corrected. I suspect (as do many others) that COVID deaths have been a bit overcounted (IE, ascribing things that weren't COVID deaths to COVID) and that will be corrected over time showing that the disease is not as deadly as people think. note, I'm a scientist and this is just inferred from my training in public health and a sage inspecction of the limited data we have today.
My own anecdote which is entirely an anecdote: I had a sick father in law before COVID. Eventually, due to alzheimers he fell and hurt his hip. He had to go to the hospital. There, he got infected with COVID (nosicomal infection), recovered completely from it, was discharged, and came home to die peacefully of other causes (it was not considered a COVID death but I could easily see how if he'd died in the hospital with COVID it would have been counted as such). This was a man in poor health in his 80s who didn't even get particularly good health care. Highest risk category, and COVID was just a sort of side event.
Realistically, democratic governments and autocratic ones for the most part did an amazing job.
There will likely be a reckoning in the future, as it always takes time for public health numbers (for things like COVID deaths) to be corrected. I suspect (as do many others) that COVID deaths have been a bit overcounted (IE, ascribing things that weren't COVID deaths to COVID) and that will be corrected over time showing that the disease is not as deadly as people think. note, I'm a scientist and this is just inferred from my training in public health and a sage inspecction of the limited data we have today.
My own anecdote which is entirely an anecdote: I had a sick father in law before COVID. Eventually, due to alzheimers he fell and hurt his hip. He had to go to the hospital. There, he got infected with COVID (nosicomal infection), recovered completely from it, was discharged, and came home to die peacefully of other causes (it was not considered a COVID death but I could easily see how if he'd died in the hospital with COVID it would have been counted as such). This was a man in poor health in his 80s who didn't even get particularly good health care. Highest risk category, and COVID was just a sort of side event.