Flatten the Curve

Some states, notably Georgia, are reopening their economies.  Many are critical of this.  However, the whole point of the lockdown was to flatten the curve, not wait out the virus.  In many states, the hospital and ventilator capacity is far from full usage.  When the number of infected who need hospitalization exceed the capacity, the death rate goes way up.  For example, Italy and New York City.  There is a balance to be struck.  We have enough data to know that the death rate for those under 40 is extremely low.  The news has reported the teen in France who died and the 20 something in New York but these are the exceptions not the rule.  According to antibody testing, the vast majority - possibly 50 to 80 times the reported infected - of infected people didn't need any medical intervention.  Older people should stay in lockdown but younger people should get back to work.  The vast majority of them - 99.9% - who do contract the disease will be fine and contribute to the goal of herd immunity.

However, for those opposed, it is great that only some states are opening up.  This provides a perfect test case without threatening everyone.  If Georgia doesn't suffer a massive uptick in critical cases in 3 to 4 weeks time, then Governor Kemp will be vindicated.  If the states finds its hospital capacity pushed beyond the limit and deaths skyrocket, then his critics will have all that stronger a case.  Let federalism work and the people of Georgia can benefit or suffer for their elective choice.

Awesome if True!

A treatment trial in New York has shown to be 100% effective against COVID-19.  If this is indeed the case, let's ramp up the manufacture of this drug cocktail and throw open the doors!  Getting a bit stir crazy.

Med Cram

Want some positive news about COVID-19?  Check out MedCram on YouTube.  There are daily episodes that detail what is known or hypothesized about the latest Coronavirus.  The discussions go deep but are made amazingly clear.  Who would guess you can follow a discussion of microbiology and how a virus breaks into cells and convert them into virus factories?  If the doom and gloom is getting you down, this is a site to show that medical professionals are on the case.

Doubt the Expert

In the last year, two major discoveries have occurred in human anatomy.  First, the mesentery has been upgraded to an organ.  This may be a case where anatomy has modified the definition of an organ and suddenly the mesentery fit that new definition, not unlike how changes in astronomy recently downgraded Pluto from being a planet.  However, we are hundreds of years along in our study of anatomy, have dissected untold thousands of bodies, and have just determined that this bit is an organ.  Then there is this new development.  The lungs produce blood cells?  I was taught that blood cells came from bone marrow.  If true, this is a mind-blowing discovery.  Again, hundreds of years with a vast number of scientists studying the human body and only now we are discovering where blood cells are made?  My faith in medicine and medical science is shaken by these two discoveries.

 

Scientists and doctors have been studying the human body for vastly longer than scientists have studied climate science.  Today, the number of people studying the human body exceeds the number of people studying climate.  Climate research is a small sector when compared to medical research.  In 2012, $119 billion was spent on medical research in the US.  In 2013, climate change had a $22.5 billion budget, about a fifth of medical research.  Therefore, medical science with its vastly greater resources, greater number of scientists, and vastly longer history of study is still discovering things about how the human body works but climate scientists - with less money, time, and personnel - have already figured out that we are doomed without drastic changes.  Gosh, I wish those climate scientists had gone into medicine instead and we'd have a cure for cancer.