The Victorian covid slogan is
Staying apart keeps us together
lying government propaganda
Lets do the maths and see if this is correct. Here is a simple calculation based on figures that are widely available and making assumptions that allow for the worst case possible.
Here are the facts, I´ll base my calculation on, they are all based on the worst possible outcomes anywhere in the world:
- In the worst effected cities in the world COVID-19 has killed so far 1 in every 600 people. Note this is at a city level. The worst country (Peru) is actually 1 in more than 1000.
- The median age of death of coronavirus in Australia 82.5 years. I can´t find a wordlwide figure but figures in other countries are similar. So lets assume a mean age of death from COVID of 80 years.
- A that age the average person (who has lived to 80) can expect to live anoter 10 years .
Lets crunch the numbers
365 days in the year * 10 years / 600 people = 6 days per person
So the maximum possible benefit per head for lockdown is an extra 6 days of life per person. I need to reiterate here this is the extreme upper bound of the benefit. If I rejigged these figures to account for the fact that the average covid death is an 82 year who is LESS healthy than average and that the worst country has a death rate better than 1 in 1000, then this figure is less than 1 day. If I rejigged it to allow for an average outcome worldwide the figure would less than 6 hours per person
So we have decimated the world economy and compromised personal liberty everywhere in the world for this. Obviously not everything in life is about crunching numbers but I don´t know about you but quality of life is a thing and I’d happily sacrifice 6 days of my life to live the last 6 months in a normal way.
We can all come to different conclusions on these decisions but these sort of figures reresent the real collective risk that covid poses to our society and to me it is sad that no one is talking about them.
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You are only accounting for mortality. Try accounting for morbidity as well.
That is true but despite the alarmism the evidence we have is that the vast majority of people make a complete recovery.
In fact the likelyhood and severity of complications so far seems to be lower than the flu on a per infection basis.
You are only accounting for mortality and morbidity. Try accounting for the loss of logic, rational thought, and common sense.