kalm wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 6:28 am
GannonFan wrote: ↑Wed Oct 07, 2020 6:40 am
As with all things science, you only have consensus when you don't ask enough scientists. Growing movement in the science circles that mirrors what many have said previously - lockdowns and other measures to curb Covid may be worse than the disease. This Great Barrington Declaration (Great Barrington is the town in Vermont where it was issued) calls for any lockdowns (full or partial) to be lifted and let the young population proceed as normal (not sure about the masks but otherwise go about their business) and to isolate the older population which is extremely more likely to have negative effects from Covid. Didn't see any MAGA hats so I don't think they can just be dismissed as Trumpers.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54442386
“Any lockdowns (full or partial)” sounds political/emotional rather than science based.
Reduce the numbers to manageable then lift restrictions. Case in point, Wisconsin, which is opening up a temporary hospital built in the spring due to hospitalizations and exponential growth.
Which points to the idea that we have and have had enough hospital capacity to handle these surges. Even in NYC, at the start of all of this when hospitalizations were at their highest (especially when we didn't even know how to treat this) we didn't exceed capacity - temporary hospitals throughout NYC sat idle. Capacity is flexible and we've been able to deal with that, and you would think the worst is behind us in terms of hospitalizations.
As for lockdowns, if we haven't learned they need to be far less onerous than we've done previously then we're not being truthful. Masks, social distancing, and diligent cleaning, along with carefully controlling access to retirements homes and other elderly care locations, are far and away the most important things to do to stem spread of the virus. Capriciously deciding that one business can stay open but another next to it can't was and is a haphazard approach that makes it look like you're doing something, but in reality has little impact on abating the virus and instead creates a haves/have not scenario between industries that get favored status and those that don't. I don't know why we can't, even at this point, admit to the unintended but significant impact decisions made early on that, in retrospect and now with more knowledge of the virus, we should never make again. Just as Trump is a fool for still pushing back against mask use, the other side (and throw Biden into this since he's become pro-lockdown again) is just as foolish for not owning up to the inadequacy of that solution.