I am fed up with the COVID-19 debates over mandates and sanitary measures. To find a path forward, agreement on data and clarity are important.
The Data in the table below comes from Our World in Data. Media outlets and institutions from both sides of the rationale political spectrum use its statistics. Examples:
So, it is the best that I could find.
The data presented comes from Our World in Data, a project of the Global Change Data Lab: Mathieu, E., Ritchie, H., Ortiz-Ospina, E. et al. A global database of COVID-19 vaccinations. Nat Hum Behav (2021)
There were 7.8 deaths per 100,000 unvaccinated people. On the other hand, that number dropped to 0.6 for the vaccinated and .1 % of the vaccinated with a booster. If you are unvaccinated your risk of death is 78 times greater than mine. Not a meaningless number.
The risk of hospitalization for the inadequately vaccinated is 7.4 times greater versus the vaccinated. And, it is 14.1 times more likely that the inadequately vaccinated will end up in intensive care.
Pretending that Covid has disappeared has costs, to people’s livelihoods, happiness and physical well-being. And allowing Covid to continue dominating everyday life has costs, to people’s livelihoods, happiness and physical well-being. The only realistic option is to balance the two and look for a path that minimizes the human damage.
David Leonhardt, The New York Times, The Morning, February 1, 2022
Go to the Our World in Data web site and play with the data and choose different countries. What the data tells me:
So what decisions would you have made? Clarity and data are important.
This was so boring to write but I had to do it. I am moving on now. No more!!! I am always speaking to the deaf:
So why do I bother?
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