Loading ...Virus Gone Viral : Some Perspective
There has never in the history of Humanity been such Hyper Focus everywhere in the world on One and Only One Disease ..nor indeed any One Topic ! Not even Close ! The Virus has gone Viral.
I admit it.
I have become a virus statistical Junky.
Reading Mostly Statistical Articles all the time.
Trying to remain objective and detached.
Trying to ignore the whack jobs with an agenda on both sides.
Somewhere in here there are real facts and statistics that put this all into proper perspective.
In no way am I wanting to diminish the real human tragedy with respect to Covid
200,000 have died so far This Year from Covid…each one was a tragedy and a painful loss for many
“Every death is a Tragedy but a Million Deaths is a Statistic” …Joseph Stalin
The problem we have when trying to detach and get some perspective is the enormity of the numbers of humans on this planet.
Here are some numbers we need to see to have perspective: Rounded Numbers :
….. There are 7.8 Billion of us on the planet…..( 3 million have been diagnosed with Covid and 7.797 Billion have NOT.)
…..This Total Population number is growing by 200,000 every Day ! …..(350 k Births minus 150 k deaths)
So in a sense every person who has died from Covid since it began was “replaced” just Today !
…So far this year 18.5 Million people have died in the world .
….Covid was responsible for 200 Thousand of these… which works out to just over 1%
….So 18.3 million people who died this year did not die from Covid . 99% died from something else.
Most normal people would say Fully..I get it and these stats are amazing and that’s enough !
……….
But there is more : ( so read no further if you have had enough death stats)
$12 Billion is spent on Public health care every day !
In Spite of this we have the following Causes of Death SO FAR THIS YEAR.
…Hunger……3.5 Million
…Bad Water…260 Thousand ( more than covid)
…Communicable Diseases …4 Million ( includes Covid) ..so 3.8 million died so far this year from other communicable diseases.
… Children under 5…2.4 Million ( can you even imagine the terror and stress on people who live in this reality ?)
… AIDS..530,000 ( you don’t hear anything about this because it requires a special kind of social distancing ! )
… Cancer… 2.6 Million
…Smoking …1.6 Million
…Alcohol….800 Thousand
…Suicide…350 Thousand
…Road Accidents…450 Thousand
Source https://www.worldometers.info/
The main point here is we are bombarded with Covid death statistics and ONLY Covid Death Statistics all day every day on every media outlet .
Maybe for perspective the tickers on this incredible website should be playing simultaneously .Maybe we would have a different view of this world wide Catastrophic event ?
Another point is…If we would all just stay home there would be no road accidents.
As it is I would expect that this category has been drastically reduced the last 2 months.
I don’t know if this perspective changes anybody’s minds regarding this virus threat and how it has been handled
But for sure it is food for thought regarding the outsized focus on this situation.
It is for me at least.
FGC
Yup it is wrong to compare with pandemic virus.
Just one example: If your wife has cancer and she dies you do not die being on her side all the time. Nurse and docotr who treated her do not die or get cancer. So on.. with all examples.
With exception to HIV.
Just heard a doctor : last 14 to 30 years treating HIV infected patients only 17 doctors died but in last three months 100s doctors and nurses have died.
Fact check numbers pls.
Thats a good point Bikkoo. Very sad that people have died trying to save lives.
But my point is the statistics : Covid vs the World
Taking you up on your point Fully. It’s a philosophical one and a practical one. Philosophically – we (as a society) are prepared to allow hundreds of thousands to die on the roads and millions due to smoking, because it’s our individual right to drive and smoke. It’s a risk we are prepared to take to endanger our own wellbeing. Covid-19 is different, as Bikoo says, it’s ok to take on the risk of catching Covid and dying ourselves, but in doing so, we also risk the lives of innocent people around us (different to passive smoking, because you can see cigarette smoke and move away if you like. Yon cannot see Covid in the air or on door handles. In the US people violently defend their right to ‘bear arms’ resulting in at least 15,000 deaths annually (the vast majority of the victims are not some mystical, fabled bad person, but just someone the gun bearer didn’t like – family, employers, colleagues – not some violent criminal trying steal their stuff). So it’s all about choice. You choose, as a society to accept that. Here in the UK (and most of the rest of the world), we are not willing to unknowingly condemn a passer-by to death when we can do something to prevent it (get the spread-rate, ‘r’ number below zero via lockdown, then consider easing restrictions slowly and retain many restrictions until an effective vaccine is found).
From a practical point of view – none of the causes of death you mentioned would send most healthcare systems in the world into uncontrolled chaos, at the same time, with services completely unable to cope, having to turn away every new patient. Without total lockdown, that would’ve happened in pretty much every European country – certainly here in the UK, where we narrowly avoided that situation. There are people in this country who are waiting for vital organ transplants and cancer treatment, but they have all been cancelled, just to free up the capacity required for Covid-19. The other causes of death you list don’t do that. Our healthcare system is built to deal with everything you list. It works just fine. With Covid-19 it doesn’t work just fine. That is the big problem here.
Well Stated Northstar and completely Agree.
My main point is there are a lot of preventable deaths that we don’t seem to be able to mobilize and do anything about.
Like all those under 5 year olds and all those dying of starvation and poor water quality…
They do not overwhelm the system because there is NO system…they have nowhere to go to be saved.
Also a philisophical question. Why can we not throw trillions in that direction as well….if saving lives is so important to us.
I think we all have done a great job of flattening the curve and the medical systems are stronger now as a result of feverish work to shore them up
which is ongoing. At some point and relatively soon we have to go back outside.