Quote (Black XistenZ @ Oct 31 2020 10:32am)
Sure, but from a macro perspective, should society really care too much about the specific types of excess mortality as long as they have a common cause?
But some ingredients of Asia's approach are not feasible in the West, neither in Europe nor in North America. For example, China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand - they are all islands, de facto islands (SK) or have otherwise closed off their borders (China, Vietnam). Additionally, most of these countries use digital surveillance, location tracking, centralized quarantine camps instead of home quarantine, etc. pp. None of that stuff would fly here.
Yes because underlying rates of mental illness differ country to country, State to state. You need to be accurate when talking about excess mortality. If a diabetic ate himself into oblivion while depressed and went into dka and died, that should not be counted as a covid death (nor does it contrary to public opinion)
Regarding Asia:
Rampant early testing in February and isolation of infected individuals would have been tolerated by most Americans. Contact tracing and testing would/should also be possible in 2020. That was really all that was needed to stop it in its track with the head start the US had on the majority of the world. You also would have saved the unnecessary early shutdown when you would have realized the virus is non existent in the majority of the country at that time. Then saving the shutdown for when it would be needed.