Saving Millions of Lives

In mid-May, COVID-19 cases and deaths entered into the same zone as those numbers for seasonal flu. 300,000 people have died worldwide from COVID-19; surprisingly, 290,000-650,000 die every year from the "regular" flu.

This is an important benchmark, but also a potentially misleading one... it does NOT mean that COVID is "only as bad" as regular flu. The important number to keep in mind is how many lives have been saved by public policy measures and social change... and that's perhaps millions.

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/05/15/Bottom-Line-We-Save-Millions-Lives/


For a long time now I have felt that concern about sports enthusiasts (rock climbers, bikers, etc) overloading the health system are oddly emphasized, considering the much higher health burden of road accidents. This article hammers home the numbers: temporary reductions on highway speed limits would surely be much more effective at limiting hospital visits.

UPDATE: A friend just pointed out this article, which notes that the deaths for COVID-19 and for seasonal flu are counted differently. So we are probably well past the numbers for seasonal flu by now... So my "benchmark" may be off, but the analysis stands!